


Beyond the Stars

by CrystalRebellion



Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crossover, Cultural Misunderstandings, F/M, Learning to trust, Lotura ships within their universe, crossover ship friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalRebellion/pseuds/CrystalRebellion
Summary: When Lotor's Sincline ship encounters an error while testing in the rift, he finds himself ejected into a reality unfamiliar to him, and  he crashes into a planet he thought he'd never see again - Altea.  Lotor must lean on the princess of the unfamiliar reality in order to repair his ship and return home.  She, in turn, learns some startling insight on the Galra she thought she knew so well.  (Lotor x Allura) (VLD x DotU)





	1. Struck

**Author's Note:**

> [Since Defender of the Universe made some alterations to the nomenclature from its predecessor, I'll be taking the GoLion names of Galra, Altea, etc. instead of Drule and Arus to limit confusion.]

A shockwave rattled the walls of the Castle of Lions, jarring Allura from her studies.  The book before her was quickly abandoned as she leaped to her feet and ran to the hall, just in time to catch Coran rushing from his study.  His eyes were as wide as her own, mirroring her shock and concern.

“What in the heavens was that?”

“I don’t know Princess, but it’s best to get to your lion.”

“What happened?”

“There was a flash of blinding white light in the sky followed by something striking the ground.  Safe to assume it’s likely another plot from Zarkon,” the advisor murmured as Allura turned and fled down the hall toward the command center.

* * *

“Careful Princess,” Keith’s voice cut over the radio as Blue Lion touched down beside the others near the gaping crater.

“Keith, it’s a ship!”

“Allura!”

His feed cut with a curse as Allura leaped from her cockpit and carefully slid down the embankment, skirting the glowing embers from the crash.

Keith wasn’t far behind.

The princess only had a moment to marvel at the configuration of the sleek cruiser; the coloring and design were unlike anything she had seen before. She swallowed nervously.

“Allura, pull back, we don’t know what’s in there – and the surface is going to be hot, don’t touch it!”

“There’s someone inside, I can see through the dome,” she gasped in shock.

Keith withdrew his pistol and aimed it over her shoulder as her heart stilled.  Time slowed around her as she stared at a haunting, slumped form in the cockpit of the vessel.

“Who is it?  Can you tell?”

Silence followed his question and he carefully approached as Allura turned to face him, expressionless.

“It’s… Lotor. …I…I think.”

* * *

She had to admit, the resemblance was uncanny.  But just as much that appeared the same – so was different. Shadows, shades and echoes bled through his appearance, reminiscent of battles fought and wars won.

Allura frowned.

She shifted her weight in the armchair, trading which leg was crossed over the other as her muscles flexed.

Her mind ran rampant, puzzling over the strange predicament placed before her.

_Who are you?_

Allura stilled as the wounded pilot’s lips twitched, a deep inhale rolling through his body.  She swallowed.  He was _tall._   He certainly appeared to be Galran, by all rights.  Long, snow-colored hair fluttered down his back, hiding the flared tips of the iconic ears.

In her – admittedly limited – interactions with the Galra Empire, she had never seen anything like the adornments protecting his body.  Her nurse staff had struggled for the better part of a half hour in an effort to pry off the plates to check for injuries, but they could not discern the secret to the armor.  Their only small victory was lifting the helmet from his head tenderly, leaving the protective halo nearby on the nightstand.

With frustration that she could not provide better care, she simply sat across the room from the eerie visitor, in an attempt to divine meaning to his resemblance to Crown Prince Lotor.

“Is he up?”

Allura glanced up as the door opened, her advisor’s profile appearing in her line of sight.  She tore her eyes from the resting patient to look to him.  It took her a second to catch up to his words and the princess shook her head once.

“No.  His vitals appear to be stabilized, at least – as much as we can discern.”

A moment of studying Coran’s face brought her no new information.

“Do you believe it to be him?”

“I… cannot say, Coran.  He’s strangely similar, but so much is different.  Do you suppose it’s Haggar’s doing?”

“ _Where is that witch?_ ”

Two sets of wide eyes swiveled to the bed, only to meet a wall of lethal cobalt.  Allura’s breath caught in her chest at the striking impact of the yellowed gaze.  The man’s frame remained reclined on the bed, only his head tilted to regard them.

_Definitely Galra._

Allura recoiled at the ice behind his regard.  Even as a single, slender strand of silver draped across his vision, the impact of the fury was unhindered.

“I…”  Allura’s voice fluttered and Coran’s hand tightened protectively on her arm as she rose from the chair in an effort to put more distance between her and the man.  “I cannot say that I know that answer.  I would imagine you would… might… be better informed on that?”

A flicker of recollection flashed across his face and his expression softened, molding into something more thoughtful.  His eyes languidly fixated on the ceiling overhead.

“Where am I?”

_His voice._

The princess’ heart hammered.  Velvet – or honey, she couldn’t be certain.  It rolled from his tongue with an elegance lost to time.  It held a lilt of formality that had long been lost to the aristocratic world.

“You’re on Altea.  Your ship crash- _Oh stars_!”

Allura leapt back as the man flashed to his feet, all call for injury and care abandoned.  He moved like liquid lightning, pressing his palms to the glass window as he stared out at her planet from the hospital wing.

“Altea,” he breathed, as if in wonderment.

The princess watched with a mixture of wariness and fascination as he leaned back and forth, drinking in what he could see from the landscape through the window.  Her alarm spiked when she watched a shudder of stiffness roll down his spine, his frame freezing entirely.

With meticulous slowness, he turned to face them.

Allura felt as if her bones were made of steel.  Despite the cadence of her heart racing through her ears, the princess was rooted to the spot by the unearthly look he bestowed upon her.

Indignation flushed through her suddenly and her eyes narrowed on him.  A flourished exhale later, she stepped forward.  Allura squared her shoulders and stared him down with an unholy domination that she most certainly did not feel inside. 

“I am Allura,” she announced proudly, preparing herself to go toe-to-toe with a Galra.  She braced for the challenge and fire, fully expecting a test of wills to drop into her lap.  If he in any way resembled –

“I am pleased to meet you, Princess,” he murmured, crossing his arm over his chest and bowing deeply.  “I am Lotor, Emperor of the Galra Empire.”  He raised his eyes from his courtly posture to catch the sickly sheen that plastered the young woman’s face.

Rising to his full height, his eyes flickered gently.

“But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

Without waiting for an answer, he tapped at the metal piece coating his right arm, evoking a purple holograph projection.  He hummed at the data that flickered before him, studying whatever scholarly divination the machine projected.

It wasn’t until Allura caught her breath and sputtered indignantly did his eyes return to her.

“Are you well, Princess?”  A frown marred his features and Allura felt her knees give out from beneath her.

“I…”  She trailed off, her palm clasping her chest as her heart pounded out of control.  “ _Emperor_?  Who _are_ you?  You can’t be Lotor!  Is this some sort of foolish game?” Her temper snapped as her frigid eyes locked on his as she struggled to regain control.

Lotor blinked in genuine surprise, his eyes widening as he studied her over the lightbound screen in front of him.

“…You appear angry.”

“How _dare_ you!  I don’t know if this is one of Haggar or Zarkon’s games, but if you think I’ll fall for some wretched scheme of yours…”

She trailed off, catching her breath as her fury calmed, fists clenched and trembling at her sides.

“I will never yield,” she swore softly.  In her emotional tempest, she missed the flinch that rolled through the strange man’s frame.  Seconds ticked into minutes as a heavy silence deafened the room.  She waited for his response, braced for anger and arrogance.

His reply, however, stunned her.

“…Zarkon lives?”

His voice was nearly breathless – did it tremble? – as he spoke the question.  Wild, golden eyes flickered around the room, calculatingly, before locking back on her.

Allura was nearly certain his expression mirrored her own as she wearily eased herself back into the arm chair, the strange shadow of her enemy doing the same in tandem, settling back onto the edge of the bed.

“Coran, would you send for Keith, please?”  She tilted her head to the side, glancing to her advisor.

“I’m not sure it’s wise to be left alone with him, your highness,” the man murmured tenderly.

“It’ll just be a moment.  His ship is not whole, what could he do?”

Coran’s eyes flitted between the confused princess as the tense stranger before nodding and leaving the recovery room.

As the door closed behind him, Allura’s tired eyes opened and she fixed her oceanic study on the pensive man across from her.  He sat docile, elbows braced on his thighs, fingertips folded loosely between his knees.

She exhaled thoughtfully.

“Who are you,” Allura asked gently, breaking the silence between them.

“Lotor,” he replied sincerely.

The princess’s lips pressed together tautly as she pondered over the information.

“Who sent you?”

“Sent me?  I assure you, my ship crashed during a test.  The energy in the Quintessence Field-”

“What?  What is that?”  She leaned forward, folding her arms across her chest. 

“Quintessence?  It’s… the space between reality, it’s the same thing that powers my ship, that powers Voltron,” he grasped desperately at information, flinging anything he could to find a point to connect with her on.

What he had hoped would conjure an expression of dawning understanding instead dropped a stony shadow of a shield instead.

“And… what do you know of how Voltron works, precisely?”

Lotor grew still, watching as her voice dropped to a trembling whisper.  When he said nothing, helpless, she continued.

“Those are secrets you should _never_ have… What do you know?”

He exhaled in frustration, running his fingertips through his hair.  Allura blinked briefly as the strands seemed to snag on something before he returned his folded palms to his lap.

“Princess,” he began carefully.  “Everything I say to you is true, and I wish to offer you the truth, however, without knowing your… _circumstance_ , I appear to be continuing to alarm you.  Perhaps… you should tell me a bit about yourself?”

Allura’s nose wrinkled in response.

“Is this another attempt at your beastly humor?  What is there to tell?”

“Would you not humor a friend?”

“ _Friend?_ ”

“…are we not?”

Allura’s struck look and complete confusion stunned him.

“ _Ancients,_ ” he cursed, the unsettling truth that he had stumbled upon a reality that was substantially different than any he had ever encountered before. 

When Allura only buried her face in her palms in frustration, the Galra looked thoughtful.

“Perhaps another method, then.  I’ll lay my cards on the table before you, Princess, and then you may judge them as you see fit, and I shall take your ques-”

“ _Lotor!_ ”

“Oh, Keith, you’re here.  Maybe you can help me unravel this!”

“Whoa,” Lance’s drawl echoed in the room as he peered over Keith’s shoulder.  “I mean, he _kind of_ looks like Lotor…”

She glanced up as her Voltron Force hovered in the doorway, eyeing the silver-haired Galra warily.

“Check out the new armor though,” Lance let out a low whistle.

Allura’s lips pursed as the enemy merely laced his fingers together, watching her companions coolly.

“What do you think?”

The Altean’s brow furrowed as she glanced between her companions.

Keith stepped around Allura and approached the docile man warily.

“Where’d you say you’re from, again?”

“I hadn’t, _yet._ ” Lotor admitted pointedly.  He exhaled in exasperation.  “Space is not absolute.  There are other realities, other universes layered together.  Where I come from – another such universe, this knowledge is accessible and… _moderately_ understood.”

“That’s ridiculous!  Other universes? Keith, are you buying this?”  Lance glanced to his commander in shock.  The pilot only held his hand up in response.

“Let him talk, Lance.  After all, both his ship and his armor don’t match anything we’ve ever seen before.”

“What… what is your universe like?  Since,” Allura paused, her hands clasped before her chest as she struggled to wrap her mind around the idea of multiple realities.  “There does exist someone here who…  _shadows_ you,” she articulated gently, grasping for the words.  “Are…”

“There is, indeed, a Princess Allura of Altea where I come from,” he acknowledged gently, understanding her fumbled question.  ”She is… perhaps as different from you as I seem to be from what you’re used to,” he added gently before she asked.

“How do we know this isn’t one of Haggar’s schemes?”  Allura’s eyes shifted to Lance as Keith murmured his agreement.

Allura frowned, glancing down to her hands knotted in front of her.

“I..  I believe him.”

Three sets of eyes honed in on her and Allura only looked back to Keith.

“I can’t tell you why, I’m afraid.  But... as fantastical as the story sounds, it… it seems to make sense.  He’s not… _Lotor._   I mean, he is,” she gestured to him with a wry smile.  “But not.  This isn’t a witch’s spell.  And - I remember hearing my father talk about such things as other realities.  He never really got far – that I know of – with his research, but this concept… it isn’t new.”

“King Alfor as very invested in his search,” the fluid voice rolled across the room.  Allura’s eyes slid to the strange Galra.

“You sound as though you knew him.”

“I wish that I did,” he admitted openly, eliciting a gasp from the Space Explorers.  “I’ve pooled over his research for millennia…  Trying to unravel that which was so close…  An explorer unlike any other, a scientist without peer.  I would have very much like to have met him,” he bowed his head in reverence, missing the shocked look on Allura’s face.

“Millennia?”

It was Keith who spoke first.

Lotor raised his eyes to the commander and shrugged apologetically.

“It’s complicated.  If the knowledge of the rift between realities is new to you, my explanation would be vastly more confusing.”

“I don’t like this, Princess, I say we just ship him back to Zarkon and let-”

“Wait,” Allura’s hand touched Keith’s arm.  She glanced back to their guest just in time to catch the panic on his face before he schooled it behind a careful façade.

“He knows how Voltron works, about the life force of Altea.  I don’t believe Zarkon or Haggar have that knowledge.”

“What’s your point?”

“My first point is we probably shouldn’t deliver that knowledge to our enemies, and more over…” her gaze hadn’t left Lotor’s and as she peeled away from Keith and approached him, she noticed he stiffened.

Allura stilled before delicately dropping into a seat near his bed.

“You called me friend,” she said gently, speaking to the weary traveler.

“I did,” he acknowledged.

“Is your Princess Allura… where you come from, I mean.  Are you two… close?”

A strange emotion flashed behind the golden gaze regarding her.  It was a look that she couldn’t place nor did he intend to explain, but the importance of it felt profound.

“Yes,” he answered.  “I apologize if I presented myself too informal, Princess.  That was my mistake for taking for granted that things would be the same beyond the stars.”

“I cannot imagine a reality where I could ever work alongside Lotor,” she murmured to herself.  Allura’s eyes dropped to her lap, and she missed the sharp flash across the stranger’s face.  “Well, just the same,” her eyes rose to meet his again.  “I believe you.  You bring knowledge that Zarkon and Haggar shouldn’t have, which leads me to believe you do not hail from them.”

She paused, her lips tasting the strange thought in her mind.  “At least as I know them,” she conceded.  “Please get some rest, food is on its way.  We’ve recovered your ship in our hangar, and once you’re ready, we can look at it.”

Darkness flashed over her expression briefly.

“Your technology seems very different than what I’m used to, but perhaps I can still be of aid in your repairs,” she promised hopefully.  “Do you need anything else in the meantime?”

“No, Princess.  Thank you for your hospitality, especially given the… situation and your own… _circumstances_ ,” he nodded, unsure how much else to express.  Allura smiled weakly in response.

“Alright, we can touch base later then, I hope you can get some rest.  I don’t doubt the staff will be checking in with you periodically, however.”

“Of course.”

A moment flashed between them as Allura hesitated.  Unspoken questions hovered on her lips as she regarded the unusual man before her.  He could read the confusion in her gaze as easily as the torment in her heart.  When he only offered her a weak smile, Allura exhaled and nodded.

“Rest well,” she murmured, turning her back to him as she exited the room, the Space Explorers flanking her.  Keith tossed Lotor one last, wary glance as he followed his princess.


	2. Correlation

Lotor stiffened.  He knew she was there before she even said anything.  Slowly, he rose to his feet and turned to face the foreign princess.

She looked nothing like the Allura he knew, but the quantum energy that thrummed through her very being was still the same.  Across time, across space, even across reality, even without knowing the planet’s name or seeing her companions, he would’ve still known _her._

What did elude him, however, was the open wariness with which she studied him.  Brilliant blue eyes the color of the sky above flitted around, touching on his armor, his hands, his ears – everywhere but his eyes.  Eventually she averted her gaze entirely and folded her hands demurely in front of her, laced fingers disappearing beneath the sleeve of her gown.

“Enjoying the air?  It’s good to see you up and moving around again,” she added delicately.

“Yes,” he said tightly, watching as the slender woman gathered the trusses of her skirt and delicately approached him.  She stepped off the steps leading up to the castle and meandered through the grass and flowers until she paused several paces away from him.

“I was studying the flowers,” he hedged in her silence.

“Altea is known for its rich diversity of wildlife – both flora and fauna,” she said.  The tension in her shoulders seemed to ease as she began talking about her planet.  “Many cures for illnesses can be found here.”

“Altea was a beautiful place,” he complimented softly, unable to stop his smile.

Lotor knew the mistake the moment it slipped when Allura grew still behind him.  His gaze snapped to meet hers in her frosty silence.

“Princess,” he began, but the apology was short lived when her pale frame trembled slightly.

“ _…was_?”

“Princess, I didn’t mean-”

“What… happened to your Altea?”  Her shoulders trembled with terror, wide eyes plastered on him as her skin turned the color of snow.

“…it was lost,” he said gently.  Worried eyes took in her form as her fingers twisted in a near-violent spasm before her chest.

“…Zarkon?”

Allura’s whisper carried to him on the soft breeze courting between them.  He needed to give her no answer and the princess did not need it to know it was the truth.

Folding her arms tightly around her shoulders and turning away from the towering prince – _Emperor_ – she reminded herself with a shiver, she exhaled the question she had been fearing.

“…is that why you’re here?”

The sharp intake of air drew her attention back to his wild eyes.

“ _Stars above, no_ – I’d have given anything to have saved Altea!  To be on it, to _see_ it… despite a continuity between us… it’s unlike anything I could have imagined.”

Cobalt irises were blown wide as he studied the verdant landscape around them, an expression of raw adoration openly brandished.

The gentle look he offered the rolling plains of her homeworld nudged Allura to her courage and she shuffled closer to him.

“You… seem to care for the planet,” she murmured softly, drawing his attention back down to her, stilling her in her advance.

“Yes,” he affirmed.  “You look surprised.”

“Not exactly something I’ve encountered from the Galra before, that’s all,” she elaborated, tearing her eyes from the man to look over her landscape.

Lotor’s eyes dropped back to the slender woman as he took in her profile.

“Princess, forgive me, are you well?”

The Emperor stilled at the blatantly confused expression she bestowed on him.

“What did you ask me?”

A thrum of confusion flushed through his chest as he contemplated his words, attempting to discern where he might have misspoken and caused offense.

“Your eyes,” he hedged.  “You look exhausted.”

There was no mistaking the darkening contours beneath her lids or the fatigue that resonated from behind her irises now that he was looking at her closer.

“I… was up most of the night,” she admitted shyly, tearing her eyes from him.  The stunned expression remained on her face while a faint blush colored her cheeks.

“I apologize, I did not mean to be rude,” he added uncomfortably, unsure what line he had crossed.

“Oh, no!  No, you were fine, I’m sorry, I just…”

“Yes?”

“…I think you’re the first to ask me that, that’s all.”

He stilled, a strange, cool feeling settling across his body.

“Princess-”

“Anyway,” she glossed past the moment.  “I was in my father’s study all night, pouring through some of his old journals.  I’m not sure I fully understand how this… Quint… _life force_ of yours works, but there does appear to be something similar in his texts. I certainly have a better grasp on the work he did with Voltron, and if it truly is similar, we may be in a good place. Once you’re feeling up to looking at your ship, I think we will be able to assist in repairs.”

“Alfor’s… work firsthand?”

Allura tossed him a shy look out of the corner of her eye and he instantly realized how idiotic the phrase sounded – naturally with her planet and her castle still intact, such information was not lost from this reality.

“Apologies,” he bowed, masking the thrum for knowledge that pulsed through him.

“When you’re ready,” she gracefully allowed him his reprieve.  “In the meantime, would you like to walk the gardens, since you seem so taken by the flowers?”

Lotor studied the curious smile on her face, very aware of her shift in attitude.  The princess had moved from outright alarmed and distinctly wary to almost… _comfortable_ in less than a quintant.  It startled him that the change didn’t rouse his own concern.

“I would like that,” he acknowledged, taking up a leisure pace at her side.  He folded his hands formally behind his back, listening to her point out the variety of life growing around her castle while he mulled over the situation internally.

From what information he could ascertain from his pitifully malfunctioning data screen – the networking interface simply had nothing to connect to on this side of the rift – and from what light Allura had been able to shed, much was familiar, and more yet was different.

Quintessence most assuredly powered her Voltron, but the methods Alfor had used to harvest it seemed… kinder than what he had known.  Perhaps there was something to take away from an alternate approach to looking at the same problem.

“-and these here, are special.  They’re from the planet Lyra.”  Lotor blinked, snapping out of his trance as he regarded the flowers blooming under the surface of the water.  “Most of the seeds we had were taken back to their home world to be replanted after… …to be replanted.  Coran thought it best we retain a few in case we needed their healing power again.”

Allura hesitated a moment by the water, lingering on some memory before she retook her soft pace, courting through the vegetation.

“Oh,” she drew up short, pausing on a hillside.  Lotor tore his eyes from her stunned expression to register the impact crater in the ground.  “It would appear they’ve completed the cleanup.  Most of your ship was in one piece, don’t worry,” she offered quickly.  “There were some smaller pieces that hadn’t yet been collected last I heard.”

His chest tightened.

The impact was deep.  The speed with which the ship must have been moving… he grimaced.  _Incredible that I survived at all._   He closed his eyes, trying to recall the last few moments in the rift; he remembered a flash of white light.  A spark had flared on his console and the last thing he could recall was Allura begging him to get out of the rift by any means necessary – that the ship appeared to be overloading.

He exhaled.

He’d done precisely what she had asked.  Where he had ended up, however…

“What do you suppose that is?”

The woman at his side darted away, approaching the center of the crater.  It took him a second to notice what she had caught, and the moment that he did his heart stilled.

_No._

At the epicenter of the crater, the faintest trickle of golden luminescence bubbled into the air.

_The ship is made from a transreality comet.  It hit this planet after exiting the rift… it…_

“Stay away from that!”

Allura stilled and turned to stare at him, wide-eyed from her position halfway down the crater. Lotor inhaled deeply, struggling to school his alarm.  The realization that after discovering a living, breathing Altea, he had slammed the comet right into it, triggering another fissure.

_No!_

“I just want to investigate it,” she replied curiously, looking almost struck by the sharp tone. With a stubborn frown across her brow, she turned back to the luminescent fountain.

“Allura!”

His breath caught as she froze, realizing that he’d used her name. Her blue eyes curled back over her shoulder, tilting the sunspun silk down her back.  She seemed nearly as startled as he did.

“My apologies, _Princess,_ ” he corrected quickly.  “But please do not approach that.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“I do,” he nodded, his pulse hammering in his ears as he desperately sought to draw her back.  She was so close to the rift – small as it was; he had no idea how Quintessence would affect her.

“It feels… _familiar_ ,” she added, her gaze looked back to the cauldron and she warily approached it, harboring more concern than she had prior.  Lotor swiftly covered the distance between them and came to stand at her side, eyeing the cataclysm with concern.

“Please-” Lotor trailed off, watching as the strong-minded princess thrust her palm out into the torrent of gentle energy.  He swallowed, eyes flickering from her face to her palm.

“It feels just like Blue Lion,” she breathed in wonderment.  “When I’m flying!”

“That is most likely due to the fact that King Alfor used this very energy to help create the robot,” he offered.

Allura withdrew her hand back and knelt to the ground.

“But Blue Lion’s energy comes from-” As she paused, he realized she was still hesitant to talk about her side of the universe.

_What manner of relationship must exist to make her so wary…_

“Oh, look, it seems to come from here…”

Lotor couldn’t stop himself.

Delicate, bare fingertips reached out to brush the glowing crevice in the earth – the rift itself – and he intervened.  Allura’s hollow cry of terror shot him through the chest, further convincing him of the bizarre circumstances surrounding his host reality.

He released her wrist without hesitation as Allura leapt away, clutching the offended arm to her chest.  She blinked, and before he could offer an apology, she righted herself.

“I apologize,” she said first.  “That was… completely instinctual.”  She regathered herself and the folds of her skirt, carefully making her way up the embankment.

A thought clicked in his mind and he spoke the words before contemplating them fully.

“He’s hurt you before, hasn’t he?”

The princess’s body stilled, her arm still curled protectively against her chest.

“…let’s head back to the castle.   We should discuss what is to be done about… whatever that is,” she murmured, not looking over her shoulder as she picked up the pace once more.

Lotor glanced down to his palms, frustrated to find the telltale claws elongated.  With a deep exhale, he curled his fingers into a fist and followed behind her.

“I can have a crew of scientists out here to quarantine off the area, if you think it necessary?”

“It might be wisest, yes,” he nodded, his long strides catching up to her.  As Lotor approached her side, he slowed so that his movements weren’t sudden.  Sapphires flashed to her posture, a chilling breath rolling through him as he saw her wrist still clasped to her body.  “…Princess,” he began again, catching the way she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

“So formal,” she commented softly, more to herself.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you – I… I was only worried about what might happen if you touched the field.”

Allura stilled and turned to face him fully.

“You didn’t hurt me,” she explained gently.  As if realizing she as still holding her arm, she quickly dropped it to her side.  “…field?”

“If you’ll hear it, I’ll do my best to explain,” he offered.

Allura nodded, mulling over everything.

“Perhaps I will have more to offer in return, now that I’ve pooled through my father’s research,” she added helpfully, a weak smile cracking across her features.

Lotor nodded to her once, studying her features closely.

* * *

Allura turned to look at Lotor as he exhaled behind her. She paused, studying his features closely.

“King Alfor’s Archives,” he murmured with the reverence once would reserve for a saint.  Allura felt her cheeks heat slightly and her chest swell with pride.  For all the manipulative tactics and coercive methods she had seen from the Galra – there was no mistaking the pure honor in his gaze as his eyes swept the walls of scrolls, tomes and data scripts.

“I’ll admit, that might be a first.  I rather thought I was the only one who enjoyed coming in here.  Coran isn’t opposed to it, but I believe it brings back too many sad memories.  And, I really don’t think the boys care much for the science of it at all.”

As his eyes dropped back to hers, Allura swallowed.  There was an intensity behind his look that she couldn’t place.  It was familiar, yet different, as many of the visitor’s aspects.

“Indeed.”  His voice was deep, a thrum of something just out of reach behind the timbre.

“So, anyway,” she murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear as she settled into a seat at a large table, gesturing for him to join her.  As he did, she drew a leather-bound tome toward her and she held it gently between her hands.  “Would you tell me about your Quint…” She exhaled, a pout on her lips.  “What is it called again?”

“Quintessence,” he said gently, a faint smile on his lips as her fingertips brushed over the hand-written journal.

“Yes, that, please.”

A strange feeling pulsed through him as she glanced away, looking back to the book in her hands.

“I think if I know more about what it is we are seeking, the more I may be able to help.”

“Very well,” he nodded.  “There are many realities layered around each other.  Different moments – something that could have been divergent; something as simple as the outcome of a war, or as starkly contradictory as an entire evolution…”

He watched closely as Allura’s fingertips traced invisible patterns on the cover, her eyes absentmindedly eyeing the rough leather.  When the news seemed not to cause a burden, he continued.

“Quintessence is the life force of the universe – of all universes. It’s within people, plants, animals – even entire planets.  The space between these realities – the rift – is filled with near-infinite amounts of it.  Theoretically – it’s where it comes from, though that extends beyond the realm of my research, I’m afraid.”

“It’s in planets?”

He nodded to her as she glanced up to him.  A brilliant moment of understanding flashed behind her gaze as she flipped open the book beneath her palms, thumbing to a specific, worn page she had flagged with a ribbon.

Lotor studied her, the hesitance in her hands apparent as she set the ribbon carefully on the table beside the tome, her palms flat over the hand written notes and diagrams.

Allura exhaled, as if schooling her courage.

Once more, her eyes locked on his, renewed determination firing behind the frosty look.

“Look me in the eye and swear that you are not about to use this against me,” she commanded darkly.  Lotor flinched back from the hostility.

“I… Princess?”

“These are secrets Zarkon must _never_ know.  And here I am about to share them with someone named Lotor.  If these get back to him…  …I’ll lose everything,” she murmured.

“I would never turn them over.  I only intend to get back from where I’ve come,” he replied.  A fire pulsed behind her gaze as she pressed him further.

“ _Swear it._ ”

“On my honor, Princess,” he said with all the force of unfathomable, unquestionable sincerity.

Allura hesitated before her expression softened and her palms revealed the sketches and notes beneath them.  Carefully, she slid the book from directly in front of her body to the space between them.

“Here, Father talks about the elemental powers of the Lions,” she gestured to a note written next to a diagram of a molecule.  “Each lion is imbued with a power that corresponds with an element on Altea.  Blue Lion rests in the moat, her power crystal gains energy from the water.  Red Lion rests in the volcano and draws its energy from fire.”

Her fingertips deftly flipped a page, further dusting over mathematical equations.

“Here is where he talks about how he came across the energy the first time.”

Her words were nearly lost to his ears as his eyes poured over the notes.

“Princess,” he began, his voice nearly a whisper.  When she glanced up to him, his eyes stayed fixed on the equations.  They were nearly identical to the logs he had pulled on his side of the rift.  “…May I?”  He gestured gently to the book.

When she nodded, he withdrew his hands to his chest and unlatched his vambraces, setting them aside.  He peeled back his undergloves and gently across the worn pages.

He exhaled, feeling an insurmountable feeling of humility to be touching the very pages King Alfor had labored over and scrawled upon, as he founded alchemy.  Bare fingertips traced over the familiar mathematics, and a gentle smile curled at his lips.

“Are you alright?”  Allura’s soft question broke his trance.

“It’s…  it’s truly magnificent work,” he explained.

The princess grinned cheerfully.

“It is, he spent so much time in this very room, working.  I stayed near him as much as I was allowed to.  I daresay I never understood as much as I wished to, however.  So much of this is beyond my grasp.  Perhaps we can understand it together,” she added, her hand suddenly closing over his.

A wave of heat rocked from his palm to his shoulder and it took all the will of the gods not to flinch away from the chaste gesture.  Allura released his hand nearly as quickly as she touched it and she reached for blank parchment, seemingly unaware.

Lotor struggled to clear his mind from the fog while the determined princess began copying the equations down to be manipulated and adjusted.

“You have so much technology here,” he nodded to the terminals and data pads around.  “Why is this only in physical form?”

Allura stilled in her writing and glanced over her shoulder to him.

“Coran was worried that the information could be hacked or stolen if we digitized it.  There’s always the chance it could be destroyed in an attack but… we decided that was better than Zarkon discovering it.  I would rather see my father’s work burn than fall into the wrong hands,” she explained, returning to the math.  “How does this align with what you know about Quintessence?”

“I believe them to be the same,” he nodded with affirmation.  “I believe your father worked with the Quintessence of Altea to infuse Voltron with a strength to make it something… _more_ than just a machine.  You have bonds and connections with your lions, do you not?”

Allura blushed and nodded.

“Oh!”  Her hand covered her lips as she gasped.  “The… the pool we saw earlier,” she began, fitting the pieces together in her head.  “…it felt like Blue Lion because that is like what Father used to make Blue Lion, yes?”

She glanced to him and a vivid excitement bloomed across her face as he nodded.

“I believe so.”

“So which element was it, then, coming from the earth?  It was yellow – is it what was used for Yellow Lion?”

“On the contrary,” he clarified gently.  “I believe that to be Quintessence in its pure form.  It manifests across the planet in the form of the elements, but that… that is an opening to the Rift itself.  It makes it rather unpredictable in its nature, however, which is why it should be treated with caution.”

She nodded, leaning back in her chair and watched absently as Lotor turned the pages in deference of the worn journal.

“You treat it like a relic,” she mused thoughtfully.

“It is one,” Lotor replied gently, not lifting his eyes as he traced over the original handwriting of the late king, touching the pages the man had once touched.

“While you look through that, I’ll see what else I can find,” she murmured, pushing back from the table to browse the shelves.    Lotor’s eyes flickered her way as she disappeared into the stacks before returning his attention back to the book.

A nervous sensation gnawed in the pit of his stomach at the idea of that rift – as small as it was – existing at all, _especially_ on Altea. 

To his frustration, the King Alfor before him did not seem to have any knowledge – at least, he took no notes – on the rift itself.  Most of his understanding of Quintessence was drawn through the secondary medium of the elements themselves, rather than directly from the source.  _That could complicate matters slightly,_ he realized.

He closed the journal and brushed his hands over it one last time after committing it all to memory.

Lotor looked around suddenly at the realization that Allura hadn’t returned.

“Princess?”

When no sound met his answer, he grew agitated.  Replacing his gloves and vambraces, he rose to his feet and carefully strode past the towering shelves.  Winding his way deeper, he paused with a sigh.

Allura had settled down in an overstuffed armchair, perhaps to flip through a book before returning to their study table; but before she had finished, she had nodded off, the book half open in her lap.

Lotor reached for her and froze, remembering the hoarse cry she had unleashed when he had touched her before.  He frowned, retracting his hands back to his chest uncertainly.  He studied her resting form and decided she appeared comfortable and instead carefully set the book on the table nearby.

The Emperor’s frown deepened and he glanced around the well-loved room.  Chairs, even a sofa rested in the main area, as if perhaps the king had made a habit of using the space frequently.  He retreated to the front room and his eyes quickly homed in on a throw blanket resting over the back of lounge.  He snatched it up without hesitance and unfurled it, gently settling it around Allura’s shoulders.

The princess only stirred slightly in her rest, and satisfied that she was as comfortable as he dared make her, he returned to the table once more.

A reprieve from her presence gave him a moment to further his own research.  He had details he needed to sort out yet; not all of the pieces had come together.  While he felt moderately comfortable with the prospect of repairing his ship; one aspect of his host reality still troubled him, but they were not questions he could ask the princess directly.

He slid the book aside and pulled a data pad in front of him, popping the projection screen up.  He typed a single phrase into the search database.

_Prince Lotor_

He hesitated a moment before confirming his query.


	3. Inquiry

Allura stirred.

Flashes of a Galran prince flickered over her mind and her eyes opened suddenly as she gasped.

She blinked.

Her eyes flickered around the familiar study, taking in the shelves and books.  As her faculties returned, she became intimately aware of _warmth._

She glanced down.

_Where did this come from?_

The soft blanket that had graced the lounge for as long as she could remember currently wrapped around her shoulders and covered her frame, yielding thermal insulation. 

She stretched.

The princess rose to her feet delicately, drawing the blanket closer like a shawl.  Silently, she made her way from the seat she had curled up in toward the front of the room.

Allura stilled, her eyes falling on the silhouetted frame of the strange man in her study.  His back remained to her, the blue light from the datapad illuminated in front of him, causing his hair to nearly _glow._

She frowned as he sat absorbed in his research.  Her weight shifted.

_Did… did his ear twitch?_

The screen before him darkened and Lotor carefully turned around to face her.

“Did you rest well?”

She blinked in surprise and nodded, drawing further into the room.  Slipping the blanket from her shoulders, she folded it delicately.

“Thank you,” Allura added, setting it back in its resting place.  “Are you…  what are you researching?”  She nodded to the screen behind him.

Something flickered behind his sapphire eyes, but Allura couldn’t place it before it vanished.

“I was educating myself on the… local climate,” he hedged carefully.  Allura frowned in response.

His eyes never left her, they traced over every contour, every filament of hair, every flutter of an eyelash as if cataloguing everything.

“….climate?”

“There seems to be some… _tension_ between Altea and the Galra Empire,” he supplied.

Lotor’s eyes narrowed as Allura stiffened visibly.

“Yes, well.  That would be the polite way to phrase that.”

“How would _you_ describe it, Princess?”

Allura didn’t like the undertone in his voice.  She couldn’t put her finger on what, precisely, he was implying, but his face was just as devoid of emotion as his words.   The Lotor before her appeared calculatingly brilliant; what he hoped to divine from her mind she couldn’t guess.

“Nothing the news reels haven’t already said,” she nodded to the screen behind him, her arms folding warily across her chest.

“They only discuss the politics and the battles.  I’m more curious in the… _interpersonal interactions_.”

“You’re asking about Prince Lotor.”

She felt her jaw clench as the doppelganger before her nodded honestly.

“Indeed I am.”

“He’s a vile, unrepentant monster, just like his-”

“Do not,” he begged, stealing the words from her lips with his earnest plea. “… _please._ ”

She stared at him in wonderment, pressing her lips together tightly with an exhale.  Haunted shadows hovered in his eyes and Allura felt her heart crack at the nightmares he held back.

“I…  I only meant him,” she amended gently.  Allura exhaled in surprise, finding herself standing before his seated position at the table. When had she closed the distance?   What had drawn her to him?

Lotor watched her with an eerie calmness.

“We aren’t necessarily as different as you seem to believe,” he murmured.  A soft smile cracked across his lavender skin when the princess turned white.  “I meant,” he clarified gently, gesturing for her to retake her seat beside him. “Perhaps he is more similar to me than you’ve come to understand.”

She flopped into the chair with a huff.

“He’s rude.”

“Is he?”

Allura frowned, tossing him a curious look over her shoulder as she drew one of her father’s journals toward herself.

“Perhaps we should spend our time trying to learn more about this?”

“Do you care for him?”

“No, of course not.”

She flipped open the journal to a random page, struggling to hide the heated flush that suddenly blanketed her cheeks.  _Of course I don’t._    She glared at the schematic of Black Lion before her. _Why would I?_   The life force of Altea was channeled via the crystal in the heart of the lion. _He’s my enemy._   If the life force was the same sort of Quintessence that fueled his ship… _Right?_

Allura swallowed nervously, unsure which question she was asking herself as she fought to focus on her work.

Her eyes swiveled to the emperor at her side and a cold sweat broke out across the back of her neck.  A knowing look reflected back at her, but the man had the decency to say nothing else on the matter.

“Shall we go look at my ship, then?”

The princess stared at him before nodding mutely.

“Yes, I believe that would be a good idea.  This way,” she gestured, rising from the table.

* * *

Allura hovered, watching as the man ran his hand over the hull of the ship.  The majority of the vessel had stayed in one piece upon impact, but a few, smaller pieces littered the repair bay.

“Did you wish to inspect it?”  He glanced her way.

Allura frowned and rolled her shoulders in a shrug.

“I don’t know what I could do.”

“Come, Princess,” he offered, extending his palm toward her.  Allura eyed the outstretched hand before hesitantly making her way toward him.  As she placed her hand in his, his fingers closed gently around her as he guided her to the side of his ship.  “Allow me to explain.”

Allura flushed, his hand still curled around hers at his side as a strange warmth flared from where they connected.  Lotor explained something about the properties of the vessel, but Allura was too caught by the fluttering in her chest to hear the words.

_How many times has this happened before?_

She swallowed nervously.

She could recall nearly all the instances Lotor had taken her hand – or arm – as his prisoner.  Never before had she wished he wouldn’t let go.  As much as Allura wanted to believe that it was purely due to the fact that he was an entirely different entity – she couldn’t convince herself fully of the fact. _He was still Lotor._

The only other hallmark was she felt no fear toward her current companion.   Her adrenaline was fueled by something _else_.

The staggering sensation left her wondering how she and Prince Lotor would interact if there didn’t exist a battlefield between them.

Allura blinked suddenly, clearing her mind of the notion before she entertained it too seriously.

The princess became acutely aware that the man beside her had stopped speaking.  While she didn’t have a grasp of the mechanics he had been describing, the deep timbre to his voice was noticeably absent. 

She turned to look at him, struck by the strange look on his face.

Allura blinked, unsure what had stunned him so.

Wordlessly, he lowered his gaze down to where his hand still delicately held hers.  At some point in her inner monologue, Allura’s fingers had laced between his.

Hot fire seared her cheeks and she snapped her hand back, clutching it delicately to her chest.

“My apologies.”

“It’s not…”  She exhaled in frustration.  He was so quick to apologize, so prompt to be polite… 

Allura took a chance and turned her eyes on him.    She blinked, surprised to find he mirrored her stance, his own hand clutched against his chest as well.  Both wariness and apprehension looked back at her, reflecting her own concerns.

“Here,” he motioned, touching a part of the ship as Allura turned her gaze back to the task at hand.

_Task._

She blinked.

_He isn’t of this place and time._

A darkness curled in her chest briefly at the thought.

_He isn’t supposed to be here.  He’s not someone I-_

Allura coughed suddenly, drawing the emperor from his explanation.  She blushed.

“I’m sorry, please continue.”  _Please, for stars’ sake, before those thoughts return._

He nodded and looked back to the ship.

“So, in short, I believe if we can find a source of Quintessence, it will do most of the work for us.  We might need to do a small infusion,” he finished.

“The… crater outside could help?”

He glanced to her out of the corner of his eye, a heavy silence falling around them.

“Yes,” he hedged warily.

“…what don’t I know?”

He chuckled appreciatively, as if charmed by her intuition.

“It will take an alchemist’s hands to infuse it.”

Allura stilled, pondering the information.

“Like King Alfor?”

“Like _you_ ,” he murmured.

“Like me?”  Her eyes flashed to his, confusion flooding her veins. “I… I don’t think that I can do all that my father did.  I don’t have-”

She froze when his palms closed around her hands. _Gently._

“I know you may not believe it, Princess, but you do.  I’ve _seen_ it.”

Allura’s eyes fell to where her hands rested between his.

“I… I may need to return to his study then, to find some information on what he did,” she admitted, once more drawing her hands back.  “Or perhaps simply ask him,” she mused offhandedly.  Her thoughts had wandered to considering the situation and the sleek, foreign fighter ship before her that she missed the sudden stiffening beside her.  “Perhaps... perhaps I can learn how to gather-”

“I beg your apologies,” he said gently, interrupting her sentence.  “But did you say… _ask_ him?”

Allura blinked and glanced up to the man at her side.  She stilled briefly, debating how much she wished to reveal.

“Yes,” the princess replied after an internal debate, studying his expression closely for any hint of betrayal.  The emperor’s expression was carefully controlled, but around the edges of his eyes and at the curl of his lips, she could see the stoic demeanor begin to peel away.

“Your father,” he repeated.  “You said _ask your father_.”

“Yes, I did…”

 “ _The_ King Alfor – you can _speak_ with him?”

Allura nervously stepped back from him as the tone of his voice grew more excited, his eyes widening with an enthusiasm she hadn’t seen before.  A near-desperate expression seemed to emanate from him as she backed from him and the ship.

“I’ll… be in touch,” she hedged carefully, her heart hammering in her chest.  She paused as she turned away, casting him a shy look over her shoulder.  “I hope you join us for dinner,” Allura added.

“…Of course,” he murmured, the strange, flushed tone in his voice quickly sequestered as the princess left him to his work with his ship.

* * *

She frowned, her arms folding over her chest as she made her way through the Castle of Lions, heading for the passageway to the crypt.

“You’re comfortable just letting him… _roam?_ ”

Allura blinked, raising her eyes to meet her commander’s as her mind came back to the present.

“Were you waiting for me, Keith?”

“I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” he explained, glancing over her shoulder pointedly toward the repair bay.

“Do you still think it’s some sort of ploy?”

“To be honest, I don’t know what to think,” he admitted, running a hand through his hair tiredly.  Allura mirrored his sentiments internally.

“On one hand – a masquerade as a friend, or someone in need, would be right up Haggar’s alley,” he continued, his eyes glancing back to the princess.  “On the other, a disguise that resembles our enemies… to claim their names even… and this elaborate story about another reality?”

Allura’s lips pressed together tightly.

“It’s fairly far-fetched,” she agreed.  “There would be far easier ways to infiltrate… far less complex.”

“He doesn’t seem to act like Lotor, that’s for sure.”  The pilot’s arms crossed over his chest as Allura turned to look down the hall behind her.

“No, he certainly doesn’t.”

A moment of quiet contemplation settled over them.

“You’ve taken to his company fairly quickly,” Keith observed carefully.

Allura’s eyes widened before she caught herself, flickering her gaze back to him.

“I simply mean to ferret out the truth of this matter.  If… if he is correct in all that he says, there is much, _much_ I stand to learn of my father’s own work – how strange is that!”

“Do you think he’s truthful, though?”

Allura hesitated.

“I… I do, Keith.  I said it before, and I stand by it.  I can’t fully explain why, but it’s a feeling.”

“Do you think he’s really Lotor?”

“I think he might be, yes.  Father did have some vague references to the possibility of other universes, and some theoretical ideas on how to travel between them.  He didn’t get very far with it, however.  I think, as fantastical and unbelievable as this situation is – it _is_ entirely possible.  I believe we may be actually speaking with a Lotor from another… realm, of sorts.  I don’t know how else to describe it.”

“Are… did he say anything about others?”

“Others? Who do you mean, Keith?”

“Is there another Princess Allura out there somewhere?”

Allura wondered briefly if she should feign ignorance.

“He said there was, yes,” she admitted after a moment’s contemplation.

“…And?”  He pressed her warily.

Allura exhaled, her arms tucked into her sides from her fatigue.

“He said they were… close.”

“And what does that mean?”

“I don’t know, Keith,” she uttered, flustered by the question.  “If you have all these questions, why don’t you go and speak with him?  I didn’t ask any further after it.  …He said Altea was gone, and I… I realized I wasn’t certain how much I wished to know.”

“Altea?”

Allura’s shoulders rolled uncomfortably.

“It is an unpleasant thought, yes.  But… there were bound to be differences, of course.  The most important thing will be finding the similarities if we hope to repair the ship.”

“And get him out of here.”

Allura’s azure gaze fixed on him quietly.

“I’m going to go speak with Father – see if he can shed any more light on this situation.  I believe Prince, er… _Emperor_ ,” she shivered at the title, daunted by the darkness it could spell for her own situation. “Lotor is in the bay still.”

“Go easy, Princess,” Keith warned as Allura stepped around him, continuing down the hallway.  She could feel the commander’s eyes on her until she turned the corner.

* * *

“There are shadows in your eyes, Daughter.”

Allura averted her gaze as she settled on the cool ground, letting the folds if her gown fluff around her legs.

“I have… _concerns,_ ” she articulated slowly, chewing on her bottom lip as her hands settled in her lap.

“For what? Your skies are clear today,” he murmured.

Allura could only smile; it _had_ been several days since the last Galran assault on Altea, and for that she was grateful.  While the reprieve left her nervous of what monstrous concoctions the witch Haggar was building, the breath of peace was still needed.

“Well…”  Her fingers twisted together as she struggled to explain the utterly surreal situation she found herself in.

“Speak, child,” he encouraged gently.

“What do you know of alternate realities?”  She decided cutting to the core of the matter was most practical, rather than trying to explain _how_ the curiosity arose.

“Alternate…”

He trailed off, a heavy silence filling the room.  The image of the man rustled as if he were sighing.

“Allura, dearest,” he began gently.  “What… have you found?”

“I… it’s… complicated.  I believe… perhaps I’ve met someone from… another reality, and we need to get him home.”  The intensity with which her father guarded his words alarmed Allura.  The sinking sensation that he knew precisely what she was asking of chilled her bones.

“How can you be certain?  And… what makes you think I know anything of them?”

“Well,” she paused, testing the words in her mind before they passed her lips.

“He said you might.  There is… _was_ ,” she amended. “An Altean king by your name on his side of… he called it a rift.”

“And how are you certain that this guest of yours is not your enemy in disguise.”

Allura blinked and exhaled, corralling her nerves.

“Well, you see Father, it’s… …it’s _Lotor_.”

A thick tension settled in the catacombs and Allura released another sigh.

“But, he’s _not._   He looks a bit different, he certainly acts different.  And… I cannot seem to wrap my head around why our enemies would attempt to disguise themselves as… well, our enemies.  When he speaks, his words feel authentic.  I do not believe him to be lying, Father.  His ship – it crashed on Altea.  It – and his armor, are nothing like anything I’ve seen across the stars before.  And, well, he speaks truths that Prince Lotor should not know – knowledge King Zarkon never learned.  This man knows it – about the lions.”

“And how did he come to learn of it?”

“I don’t know that answer.”

She bit down on her bottom lip as guilt welled in her chest.

“Father, I… I let him look at your journals. When he shared that he already knew… I…”  She pressed her face into her palms, exhaustion from the overwhelming situation sinking in.  “I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but it didn’t feel… _wrong._   He has the information already, just in another form!  We just need to sort out how it translates, and I know I must sound absolutely mad with this talk of realities and rifts-”

“You are not mad, my daughter, you are entirely correct.  It was research I abandoned ages ago and buried deep when I realized how dangerous it could be.”

Allura blinked, stunned.  She slowly raised her eyes to meet the ghostly face of her father and his haunted expression stared back.

“Go,” he urged gently.  “Find this… new Lotor of yours, and bring him here so I may meet him.  If he already understands our magic, then I can help him piece it together within the structure of our technology.”

A gasp caught in her throat.

“You… you wish me to bring a _Galra_ here?  To the tomb?”

A soft flicker of amusement flashed behind his eyes as her incredulous question.

“I would.  Please.”

“Of course, Father.  I trust you.”  She rose to her feet and fluffed the dust out of her dress.

“Farewell for now,” he murmured softly as his image faded, leaving a conflicted princess standing alone in the darkness.  She pouted.  Allura had always found solace in her father's words, but for the first time, she only found more confusion.


	4. Duality

“Oh, you’re… still here.”

Lotor rose from where he had been kneeling by an open panel.  He looked over his shoulder at the blonde nymph that had returned to the repair bay, blue eyes wide with surprise.

“Should… I be elsewhere, Princess?”

He canted his head to the side lightly, studying her posture.

“I thought you might be at dinner,” she admitted, letting her fingers dance across the folds of her pink gown uncomfortably.

“I lost track of time, my apologies.  Have you already eaten, then?”

She shifted her weight once more.

“No.”

“You are skipping your own dinner because you were expecting an empty bay,” he mused, more to himself in realization. Allura’s eyes lit with a flame that rivaled the Kral Zera.  Rose-colored lips parted as the fury built behind her visage… but she froze.

She blinked, frozen in a moment of pre-retort before her lips pressed closed once more, her body language easing.

“Yes,” she admitted. He found it peculiar how quick she was to anger, as if she anticipated combat at every turn.

“You seem surprised.”

“You’re… quite perceptive,” she elaborated, her curious gaze flickering over him to his ship. 

“I take it that is not a trait you have become accustomed to finding in others.”

Her eyes slid back to him but her face did not turn.

“Or myself.”

He blinked; his face remained impassive but his mind stuttered over her words.

“On the contrary, I find you to be incredibly aware.  Every detail, every scrap of knowledge, you catch it all, Princess.” His brow furrowed as he studied the woman.  “You don’t see that?”

Allura felt her cheeks warm at the comment and she only rolled her shoulders in response.

“I’m afraid intelligence doesn’t mean much if you aren’t a competent swordswoman,” she replied with an exhausted sigh.

Confusion further welled on his features and he shook his head once, returning his cobalt gaze back to the ship.

The silence lingered heavily between them as the princess sighed once more.

“Were you hoping to inspect a part of the ship in my absence?”

Allura flushed hotly and folded her arms across her chest, looking appropriately caught.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, it’s not-”

“By all means, allow me to assist you.  What would you like to see?”

“You’re… not angry?  That I intended to sneak about your ship?”

Once more, his white brow drew together sharply as that same look of confusion consumed him once more.

Allura took a hesitant step back, daunted by the intensity with which he studied her, as if he hoped to draw some secret from her very soul.

“No,” he murmured after a moment.  “My vessel – which could arguably be considered a weapon, has struck your planet.  You have taken me in and aided me when I was injured.  It is a vehicle that appears to be tied – through me – to someone you’ve marked as your enemy, and yet you’ve still offered assistance.  I keep no secrets from you, Princess.  Ask, and I shall answer the best I can.  I am in your debt.”

Allura gaped openly, all call for formal decorum and behavior was cast aside as her jaw nearly hit the floor.

Recovering her grace, she nodded and glided toward him and the ship.

“I was hoping to take a closer look at the dynotherms and see how they are linked into the mainframe,” she hedged warily.  “Once I have an idea about that, I may be able to figure out how to move forward.”

“Of course, here.” Allura watched as he hoisted himself up atop the craft and deftly pulled open one of the panels. “Can you make it up here, Princess?”

Allura blinked in surprise as he extended his palm toward her.  Her mind reeled in bewilderment as she knowingly and willingly placed her palm into Lotor’s outstretched grasp.

“How strange,” she murmured to herself as he delicately closed his hand around hers before guiding her to a part of the ship she could brace her foot against.

Allura gathered the bustle of her gown in her free hand and nodded up to him.  She bounced on the ball of her foot, ready to leap up, but the effort was unnecessary.

With a grace that seemed effortless, she found herself gently hoisted up and settled near him on the ship, the open panel before her.

“…thank you.”

“Of course.”  His hand released hers and while he sat nearby, their bodies did not touch.  As Allura leaned forward to peer into the panel, she became distinctly aware that the man leaned away, as if granting her space intentionally.

“I see,” she murmured to herself, studying the lines and connectors.  “Your technology is quite different than ours, but I think I can see where the overlap is.  It’s almost organic in a way, not unlike…”

Allura stilled, trailing off a she bit down on her lip.  Sitting back on her hips, she fixed her gaze on Lotor near her.

“It really _is_ like Voltron, isn’t it?  You really do have the blueprints for the machine…”

“To a degree,” he hedged.  “I do not believe I could recreate your robot, however.  Only the… _method_ is similar.”

She hummed in response before turning back to the ship.

“Other than the obvious physical repairs,” she gestured to the piece separated from the ship and lying on the floor nearby.  “We just need to find a way to charge it.  Is there a power crystal housed in it?  I don’t see the core…”

“The ship itself holds the quintessence,” he explained, causing Allura’s brow to crease thoughtfully.

“We really _will_ need to bring Father into this,” she murmured.  She felt Lotor stiffen beside her, but he said nothing.  Curiously, she looked back to him, a smile toying at her lips.  “You didn’t ask me of that, but I could tell you were – at the least – surprised.”

“They are your secrets to keep, Princess.”  Something darkened in his gaze that Allura couldn’t place.  “Should you choose to share them that would be entirely your decision.  I will not press you.”

“I just.  I can’t understand it, to be honest.”

“It will come with time, you have the capabilities and know more than you think you do.  Alchemy is only half knowledge – the other half is intuition.”

“No,” she paused, her eyes lowering.  “No, not that.  I think we can sort your ship out.”

“Then what troubles you?”

A moment of hesitation passed between them before Allura stunned him with her azure gaze.

“How can you look so much like him but act so very, very different?”

The emperor grew still as he realized the unsteady ground she had drawn him onto.

“Why don’t you tell me a little about him,” he urged gently.  “I’ve only learned of your displeasure.”

She scowled and shook her head once.

“What is there to possibly say,” she said in exasperation.

Lotor paused, considering his words carefully as he watched Allura replace the panel on his ship delicately before eyeing the drop to the ground.

Without hesitation, he slipped from where he was sitting, landed deftly on the ground and offered his hand up to her.

A strange shadow flickered across her expression at the gesture and she gingerly reached for the support.

“What of King Zarkon?”

The question caught the lithe princess by surprise and she nearly tumbled into him.  He steadied her quickly before stepping back and Allura frowned at the thought.

“Evil.   Absolute evil.  He pillages planets, burns star systems and has been trying to enslave my people for years.  We keep driving him back – Voltron protects us, but he is absolutely relentless. He has a witch, Haggar who makes these monstrous robeasts.”

She shook her head and continued.

“He has no regard for any other life, no desire for peace.  He seeks destruction and power.”

She tossed a look over her shoulder as she migrated toward the door out of the hanger, as if daring him to argue.

“I concur.”

Her wariness melted at the agreement and she huffed in response.

“Yes, well.  Altea can only do so much,” Allura continued, her voice taking on a more somber lilt.  “We almost lost everything once, fortunately – I believe he thought us to be gone, but we endured and regrouped.  And, since then, he’s come back intending to finish off what he started.  His son carries his banner,” she added, her gaze stark on the man as she judged his reaction.

What was once warm acquiescence shifted to sharp surprise.

“Is that so?”

Allura’s pout was unmistakable, as was the uncomfortable shift that rolled through her body.

“Are you not hungry?”

His curious expression softened into amusement at her blatant dodge of the question.

“I am not.”

“Truly? I don’t think you’ve had much since your light refreshments in the medical ward.  Don’t you eat often?  Do you…”  She blinked, her eyes widening.  “If you’re not from… here… do you need some other kind of food?”

“Not at all. I’ve…” He hesitated.  “Grown accustomed to longer times between nourishment.  Your rich and healthy cuisine has kept me sated, Princess.”  A shiver rolled down his spine at the thought of the Food Goo.

“Very well,” Allura acquiesced.  She turned to cover the rest of the distance between the door, but she paused, hesitating.  “…if you’d like a break from the ship, you’re welcome to join me just the same.  Or -“

Her sentence was cut short as a sickening crash sounded outside, the very walls of the castle rattling.  A low, earthy groan emanated from her throat as she raised her eyes just as the red lit alarm sirens blared.

The princess’s eyes flashed to his, hardened resolution flickering in the crimson illumination.

“Well, you wanted to meet him,” she murmured dryly before turning and flying from the hangar, bolting toward the control room to take to her lion.

Lotor could only stare after her, stunned.

_Meet him._

“Oh,” he murmured.

* * *

_“Watch that blaster, Princess!”_

_“On it, Keith!”_

Coran glanced over his shoulder and stiffened visibly as the Emperor walked into the control room cautiously.  He paused in the entryway and simply folded his hands politely in front of him, waiting, even as the sound of a battle came across the intercom and the screen behind the elderly man.

The tense moment passed and Coran nodded once, returning his attention to the pilots.

The Emperor came to stand beside the advisor, hands folded politely behind his back.

On the screen, the five lions flashed about, calls for weapons or evasions flickered over the communicator, all relatively calm.

A direct hit grounded the Green Lion, and Blue Lion dropped out of the sky to yield cover.  The grotesque monster fixed its attention on the Red Lion next.

Coran glanced sideways at the deep noise the guest made.

“Is this Prince Lotor’s doing?”

“Undeniably,” Coran affirmed, glancing back to check on the pilots, just as Green and Blue Lion returned to formation.

_“Let’s put this thing out of its misery!”_

Lotor tilted his head to the side curiously, watching the ships form the ever-critical formation.  His tactician mind ran rampant as his eyes flickered from lion to lion.

A poorly-aimed boomerang missed Red Lion before returning to the beast just as Voltron touched down, the process complete.

“You seem awfully calm,” Coran observed warily, his tight tone betraying the tension thrumming through him at the battle.

A slight tilt of his head later, Lotor was casting him a cool look.

“Are you worried they’ll lose?”

“Of course!”  Coran’s wild eyes glanced back to the screen, his palms clasping before his chest in prayer formation.

“They won’t,” Lotor replied simply.

“How can you be so certain of that?”

“Have they ever lost?”

“Yes!  In the early days!  They recovered but it was… so very, very close.”

A moment of reflection passed between them.

“And who led those charges?”

“King Zarkon, of course, really, I fail to see what you’re driving at.  It doesn’t matter which is leading the assault.” Coran retorted, growing more flustered as he returned his attention to the battle, just in time to see Voltron drive the blazing sword across the robeast’s chest.

“Yes it does.”

Coran’s pensive expression fixed on Lotor tautly.

“Why.”  It was barely a question.

“Prince Lotor won’t let them lose,” the emperor responded deftly, with all assured certainty.

“How can you be certain?”

Lotor watched the screen as the great robot backpedaled from the explosion.  A slow, leisure smile curled at his lips.  It was all so painfully obvious.

“He _loves_ her.”

Coran choked.

“Are you mad? What could possibly make you think that?”  Lotor flinched slightly from the confrontational tone, quickly realizing he miscalculated the climate for such a discussion.

While retaining his defensive posture, the emperor replied in a soothing, cool tone, flush with scientific detachment.

“Within that fifteen-dobosh battle, I counted six separate instances that the beast could have taken down Blue Lion.  It did not.  The moment it could have moved to strike against the other lions, it did.”  His eyes slid back to the screen as the massive defender split back into five parts.  “He lost the battle because he refused to target her.  Blue Lion was the closest target to the beast when they flew into formation.  It marked Red for its assault, and it failed.  When Blue moved to shield Green on the ground, that would have been ideal to take them both down.  Again, it did not.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“No,” Lotor’s eyes widened suddenly as he watched the pressure wave from the detonation of the robeast blast across the Altean terrain.  It did little damage save bend some trees – but it _did_ dislodge the heavy dome that had been designed to cover the rift, exposing the quintessence to the sky.

He swore under his breath in his native language and turned, fleeing the control room just as Blue Lion touched down near the open wound in the planet on the screen.

“Was that… _Altean?_ ”  Coran stared after the man, utterly perplexed.

* * *

  
“It can’t be left open!”  Allura grunted as she struggled to tug the iron dome back over the rift.  She cursed daintily as she heavy object resisted all her strength and stayed firmly on its side, leaving the rift and its dangerous energy naked.

She gasped in alarm as the daunting bat cruiser touched down nearby.

“Oh no, not now,” she murmured.  The battle may have been won, but the war was far from over.

She studied the distance between the Crown Prince and herself and mentally calculated how quickly she could return to Blue Lion.

“Just… a little…”  The frustrated princess heaved her weight against the domed shield, hoping to knock it off balance and back into place.

“Allura, my sweet!  So nice of you to volunteer to meet me on the battlefield…”

“Lotor, I don’t have time-”

“Princess!”

Allura glanced over her shoulder as the emperor bolted down the embankment toward the rift, alarm written over his face.

“Oh,” she murmured, quickly looking to Crown Prince Lotor.  Both men skidded to a stop at the same moment and a heavy tension descended on the ground.

“ _What._ ”

Allura flinched at the warlord’s tone.

_Not now,_ she grimaced, straining against the weight.  For just a moment, it felt like the sturdy structure quivered.

“ _What is the meaning of this?_ ”  The prince’s voice echoed across the clearing as the emperor joined Allura near the dome, lending his strength to help pull it closed.

A resounding _crash_ echoed across the land as the metal fell into place.  Allura quickly clasped her hands over her ears as she backed away from it.  She glanced up to the friendlier of the Galra men.

“Is that good?  Will it stay?”

“For now,” he nodded, his mind easily switching back to a tactical appraisal.

“Perhaps we can find another way to secure it more soundly – so this doesn’t happen again?”

His sapphire gaze shifted to her and softened marginally at her suggestion.

“We’ll need it open at some point to charge the ship, and eventually, we must seal it completely.”

“Close it? But why not leave it-”

Before the emperor could contemplate the terror of leaving an active rift open on Altea, arrogant bootfalls drew both their attention away from the subject.

“What manner of witchcraft is this?”  Prince Lotor’s lazon sword hummed to life as his strides grew longer, closing the distance between them.

“Stay back,” the emperor murmured gently to Allura, his left hand nudging her behind him by her waist as his glowing broadsword flared to life in his right.

The princess blinked at the familiar-looking weaponry.

The encroaching opponent stilled, eyeing the blade of his enemy, seemingly troubled that the violet weapon was far longer than his own.

“Allura, my sweet,” he called out, attempting to coax her from behind her guard.

“Just go away,” she spat back at him.

“Can you make it to your lion?”

She glanced up and nodded once at the emperor before turning and bolting toward her vehicle.

“Wait! Beloved!”

When Allura did not yield to the crown prince’s command, he fixed his feline gaze on the haunting man standing between them.

“And who are you? You look Galran enough.”

The taller of the males snorted once and turned his head away.  With Blue Lion airborne and the rift resealed, he was no longer needed outside.  He began walking back toward the Castle of Lions, mulling over the next stages in repairing his ship as well as some of the disturbing implications his doppleganger had brought to light.

“Wait!”

He resisted a chuckle at the command and continued to leisurely make his way back.

“I asked you a question!  If you are Galra, you cannot evade a command from your prince!”

Lotor stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face the man across the clearing.

When he said nothing, he continued.

“I am Crown Prince Lotor!  You must respect me!”

Blue eyes narrowed with an intimate coldness.

“Indeed,” a lilting reply floated back.  “And I am Blood Emperor Lotor of the _entire_ Galra Empire.  I trust you can understand how the hierarchy works,” he mused gently, internally grateful to Dayak for reminding him of the archaic title.  “And now if you’ll excuse me, I must return to the Princess.”

Without further preamble, he turned away once more.  A full moment of stunned silence descended upon them as he retreated.

“… ** _what!?_** ”

The Emperor fought back the chuckle threatening to flood his body.  Gifted with a clarity on the Princess’s… _situation_ that he had not possessed before, plans began to form in his mind.  His original goal of repairing his ship and returning to _his_ Allura was still his utmost priority, but what was the harm in tacking on an additional goal in the process?

* * *

“Well?”

Allura’s worried eyes flickered over him as he walked into the control room once more.

“Yes, Princess?”

“Are you hurt?  Did you fight?”

A strange look flickered over his face at the first question, but he quickly schooled it behind a calm façade.

“No, we did not fight.”

“But you see what a brute he is!” Her hands balled into indignant fists on her hips, her eyes alight with a vibrant fire once her worry abated.  “He just marches in and attacks my planet!  He keeps trying to… to _take_ me away and enslave my people!”  She flushed hot, folding her arms over her chest indignantly.

Her toe tapped anxiously on the floor, the soft rapping from the flightsuit boot echoing off the walls of the command center.

“I’ll admit, it’s a bit of an unorthodox approach,” he murmured, more to himself after a thoughtful moment.  Allura blinked, her nervous tick stilling; she canted her head to the side as she caught the language.

“Approach to _what_?”

Something flickered behind his expression that Allura couldn’t quite read before it vanished again.  He shrugged once.

“I think I would like to return to my ship.  Don’t forget to eat, Princess,” he encouraged, giving her a brief, reverent bow before leaving her standing in the heart of her castle.

She frowned.

“ _What approach_ ,” she murmured to the empty room.

* * *

Allura piled her hair up on top of her head before easing herself into the steaming bath in her chambers.  The long, strange day had ended with just as much confusion as it had began.

She huffed, the water lapping at her shoulders, unable to shake the strange man’s words from her mind.

“What approach do you think he means, Inky?”  Allura looked over as her furry companions joined her on the edge of the bath.

The mouse chirped at her enthusiastically and she smiled, tilting her head back and draping her eyes closed.

“No, I don’t think he means the ship.  I’m actually feeling rather confident that we’ll be able to fix it.  I can see that it works similarly to Blue Lion.  They’re very similar.  Just… only a little different.”

Her smile widened involuntarily at something the critter chattered and she only shook her head once.

“Hush,” she murmured. “Of course not. He’s still _Lotor._ Very similar, but… …but different.”

She hesitated, realizing the strange parallel.  Her eyes popped open and she stared at the wall across the bath from her.

Allura’s hand curled under her chin as she contemplated the situation.  While the strange shadow of a man had openly hinted that he wasn’t that different from the Galran warlord she knew, the princess began to wonder what _exactly_ that meant.

_At first, I had thought he meant he would be cruel and unkind as well..._

The crease in her brow deepened with her frown as the thought slipped from her control.

_Perhaps he meant the opposite…_

She bit down on her bottom lip and glanced to the mice still near her ear.

“You don’t suppose that Prince Lotor is capable of…”

She trailed off, unable to finish the words aloud.

_Not possible._


	5. Synergy

Lotor watched impassively as the guards helped shift his comet ship to the side of the repair bay.  His brow furrowed, a path cleared from the outside to a large, raised pedestal with arching rib-like wings over it.

His eyes narrowed as the wounded lion ship entered, making its way toward the platform.  It had been less than a movement since he had encountered his alter on his present side of the rift, but the hailstorm of violence felt as though it had increased in the innocuous meeting’s wake.

"This is normal?"

Cobalt eyes slid sideways to mark the Altean advisor that came to stand beside him.

"While it isn't a common occurrence, it's more often than we are comfortable with."

Blue Lion carefully eased itself down into place, the open panels sparking, the darts embedded in the side still latched onto the princess's ship.  After it powered down, the side hatch opened and Allura gingerly stepped out.

She paused, turning to survey the remnants of her vessel, a gentle palm coming to cup the ribs on her left side as a medical professional jogged up to check on her.

She waved the attendant off before reaching up to remove the pink helmet from her head, shaking her blond head lightly.  She tucked the armor under her arm and just studied her ship, an aura of frustration emanating from her.

"Do you stand by your earlier statement now, Emperor?"

The elder Altean glanced to the taller man, worry lines etched into the creases of his face as a bitter triumph settled behind his eyes.

Lotor turned and looked down to him, the silvered strand of rebellious hair swishing with the motion.

"That he loves her?"

Coran made an irritated noise when Lotor only nodded.

"How can you say that?"  He gestured to the grounded ship.  "He _shot_ her! That robeast nearly tore her lion apart!  Where's that talk of 'never hurting her' now?"

Lotor glanced across the bay as the pink pilot gingerly dropped down, allowing the computer to begin analyzing the aftermath of the fourth battle in a week.

"The damages her lion incurred were not intended for her," he mused softly under his breath as he watched the princess.  "It does not change my prior assessment."

He could read the exhale leave her weary frame before she turned to face them, leisurely covering the distance between them.

"How are you feeling?"

Coran ignored the point the Galran at his side was trying to make as the Altean princess came into earshot.

"I'm alright, I wish I could say the same for Blue Lion however," she murmured with disappointment.  "I'll have to train harder.  A better pilot would've been able to handle that."

"If they would just leave you alone, it wouldn't matter," Coran chided her gently.  "We must redouble our efforts, perhaps request some aid from the Galaxy Alliance."

Allura blinked at her advisor.

"Coran, surely you're not suggestion an attack on King Zarkon?"

"It may be time to send a message - they've been at your doorstep with more frequency than we've ever seen before, and the team is beginning to grow exhausted.  Something must be done.  I'll put in a call to Space Marshal Graham."

He turned away, leaving a wide-eyed princess behind him.  Lotor glanced down to her just in time to see her wheel on her guardian.

"Wait!"

Heels clicked on the floor as she covered the distance between them, pausing to touch her side once more, only briefly.

"No, we cannot do that," she insisted.  "Voltron must not attack - it is only a defender!"

Both Alteans turned to look at the Galran standing near his ship as a chuff rolled through his form.

Coran bristled indignantly.

"Do you find that funny?"

"Now, Coran," she chided him gently, touching his forearm before he could began stalking toward the male.

His eyes flashed back to hers.

"All the same, we should at least open our communication channels with the Alliance.  We may need them soon."

"Please..." she pleaded gently.  "I don't want to be the cause of more fighting..."

“It’s just precautionary,” he affirmed, patting her hands gently before vacating the hangar.

Allura watched him leave and her hands deftly dropped to her sides.  With a deep exhale, she schooled her worried expression behind a false positivity, but not before the Emperor coming to her side caught trace of it.

“So,” she began, her eyes glancing around him to study the ship.  What had once been in three pieces had been reassembled into two. “Shall we attempt to align the second wing?”

His brow creased as he studied the veiled emotion on her face.

“You’re injured, you should go to the medical ward,” he replied gently after a moment.

Allura’s carefully-crafted features dropped to blank shock at the statement.

“I’m… I’m sorry?”  Genuine surprise flooded her face as she fixed her eyes on the steel of his own sapphire gaze.

Gauntlet-protected fingertips brushed across her flight suit just over her ribs.  The touch was feather-light and at no point did he make a move to curl his grasp around her; merely a soft touch before returning his hand to his side.

“How… did you know?”  Allura fought to tame the strange surge of heat that thrummed through her body.

“I can see it in the way you stand… in how you shift your weight. …In your eyes,” he added as the blue depths widened in surprise.  “I’m rather surprised your friends cannot.  Are they… usually so unobservant?”

Allura flushed and shrugged a bit.

“It’s usually better if they don’t notice, to be honest,” she admitted, tossing a nervous look over her shoulder in the direction Coran had left in.

“Why is that?”

His brow furrowed at the strange comment.

“They do not… they…”  She exhaled, licking her lips as she thought of how to word it.

“You need not choose such delicacy with your language around me, Princess.  I won’t share your secrets.”

The Altean stared at him openly before embracing the carte blanche he offered her with a thirst for liberation.

“They care more for the propriety – if they had their way, I would not fly or fight at all.  They want me to stay safe inside a castle – but what sort of leader is that? What message do I send my people – my enemies – if I will not stand with my soldiers?  I _live_ for the skies… flying… is a freedom I’ve never experienced before!  I have spent so much of my life locked in a battle with the Galra-”  She paused suddenly, as if realizing whom she was speaking to, a soft stain blooming over her cheeks.

“Go on.”

“It’s all I’ve ever known.  To be able to travel, to explore, to see the world around me and not fear the fire in the skies…  That is the future I hope to build for my people.  And both my team and my advisors believe my place to sit daintily on a throne, hidden behind armor, guards and walls – Nanny even has been trying to find me a proper suitor – to what ends and means I cannot divine.”  She shook her head in frustration.

“I… digress,” she admitted, casting him a weaken smile, peeking at him sideways.  A giddy relief flooded through her at the freedom to unload her frustrations.  “If they see that I’ve been injured, they’ll take it upon themselves to corral me to my chambers and keep me from taking up my weapon again.  It’s better if they don’t see it.”

“That’s absolutely vile,” he murmured after a moment.

Allura blinked.

“I’m sorry?”

“They do not revere you as a warrior?  They do not respect your strength or your command? You _are_ their leader. These are _your_ lions.  And they feel they have the authority to keep you from them?”

Allura marked the frustration building behind his eyes.  His expression remained cool and detached, but the venom in his voice was unmistakable.

“You… think I’m a warrior?  I had never even drawn a blade before Zarkon invaded.  I hardly know anything about it.  I’m… so very far from capable in that regard.”

“Princess, if I may?”

Her gaze flitted to his out of the corner of her eye and she nodded once.  He continued.

“Being a warrior does not mean sharp weapons or large shields.  It can – and it does in many instances, but it is not limited to that.  A combat medic is a warrior – fighting to tend to the wounds, to race time, to stand against Death Himself.  A scientist is a warrior – striving against the odds, unlocking the secrets of the world around him.  You, too, are a warrior, Princess.  I have seen it – in this world, and another as well.  You lead your people with a determination unmatched by any, a desire to protect them that exceeds the expectations of the gods themselves.  What aspect of that would anyone possibly deem inferior?”

Allura just stared, her lips parted in shock.

“No one… has ever spoken of me that way before,” she murmured after a moment as he raised his eyes to his ship, though his mind reflected to something far more distant.

“It’s a very Galran philosophy, to be certain,” he admitted with a nod.  “We recognize strength as our equal, we admire skill, determination and will as powers to be reckoned with.”  Sapphire focals slid back to her suddenly.  “You court them all in spades.  It’s little wonder to me the Galra have taken an interest in you.”

The blush on her cheeks cooled suddenly.

“You mean Lotor.”

The Emperor’s smile quirked slightly.  He didn’t respond, but instead politely folded his hands behind his back and strode toward his ship elegantly.

“He means to conquer my planet and enslave my people – and myself.”

“Does he?  Is that what he’s told you?”

Allura stilled, remaining where she stood, her hands folding and unfolding nervously before her.

“Well, not exactly,” she hedged.

“What has he said?”

Her arms folded over her chest and she huffed in a pout.  When she didn’t respond immediately, he turned to look at her curiously.

“Princess?”

“…You can call me Allura, you know,” she replied softly, unable to meet his gaze as she stared across the bay at her lion.

“What has he told you… Allura?”

The princess mumbled something incoherent under her breath.

“What was that?”

“It’s embarrassing,” she exhaled in frustrated, her cheeks growing redder.

“What is?”

Bootfalls marked his presence as he drew closer to her, standing politely over her shoulder.  His vambrace’d hands remained folded behind him as he studied what he could make of her expression as she turned away.

“What he says.”

“Why?”

“Because… because it’s not… it’s not _proper_!”

Allura spun to face the cryptic Galran Emperor just in time to catch a strange light flicker behind his eyes.

“But, what _exactly_ , does he say?”

“…he…”  She paused, biting down on her bottom lip nervously.  “…he wants to… to marry me,” she murmured, nearly ashamed of the words.

Silence settled between them, but Allura couldn’t bring herself to check his reaction.  As the seconds bled into minutes, she exhaled nervously.

“So, there’s that, and I-”

“And that arrangement is unappealing to you?”

She blinked.

“Are you _mad_?”

Lotor blinked in response, surprised by her reply.  When he said nothing, she continued, her rage curdling around her.

“He invades my planet.  He enslaves my people.  He burns their crops, steals their food – he _destroys_ their homes and tries to kill my friends and family – why in the _six heavens above_ would I ever want to marry a monster like that!?”

Wild, dangerous blue fire burned unchecked behind her gaze.

“You truly a _re_ a warrior,” he murmured after a moment.  Her ferocity softened at the comment but her brow remained furrowed in defiance.  When she didn’t respond, he shrugged offhandedly.  “So what would you have in a husband then, Princess?”

Allura’s expression melted completely, struck by the question no one had ever asked her before.

“What… do you mean?”

He turned away, striding once more to where his ship rested.

“Your perfect mate.  What qualities would they have?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

Her hands folded nervously at her collarbone, eyes turned away from the man who would not meet her face.

“Because I’m curious.  If it is not the valiant commander, or the clever mechanic – or the loyal prince, what is it, then?”

“Loyal? You think Lotor to be loyal to me?”

She spun on heel, anger renewed to stare down the emperor.  Muted cobalt met her gaze with a gentle indomitability.

“I do, yes,” he affirmed, as if commenting on a sunrise.

“Why would he be loyal to me?  How… how is hurting me loyalty?”

“I can nearly guarantee it, Allura, had he the influence of King Zarkon, he wouldn’t.  You’d see a very different Prince Lotor.  _Believe me._ The dynamic changes _entirely_ when your oppressor is no longer looking over your shoulder.”

“…O…oppressor?”

Lotor glanced Allura’s way.  There was a fleeting darkness behind his eyes before his expression softened, shielding her from what truths lay behind it.

“I only mean that things may be more… _turbulent_ on the other side of the battlefield than perhaps you’ve been led to believe.  “But do, tell me – what is it you desire?”

“I desire no man!”

Lotor blinked in surprise before he smiled softly.  Allura continued, undaunted.

“Altea does not need a king to lead it, I need not bend the knee to some suitor just to better my people – I can do it all on my own.  Anyone who attempts to do anything less will be pushed aside. Voltron protects us, be it from King Zarkon or Prince Lotor – I will not fail my people!”

“And so you shan’t,” he murmured in response. “But what do you _want_?”

“Want?”

“Yes, Princess.  What are your desires, your designs?”

“I…  I have none,” she admitted softly, her ardor cooling with the realization.

“Is that a truth or a phrase you’ve been taught to utter?”

She scowled at the man.

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, pardon me, but… is that something you’ve been told is the proper thing to say, or do you truly desire nothing?  Of all the stars in all the skies… there is truly nothing you desire for yourself?”

Allura cast him a perplexed look before she turned her attention back in the pieces of his ship in the bay.

“Let’s get the left wing aligned.”

A slow smile curled at his lips as the understanding settled into place.

“You _do_ care for him.”

The shuddering that rolled down her spine was unmistakable.

“One the wing is aligned, we can begin by testing the dynotherms.”

He took a chance and pressed her more firmly.

“What is it you flee from?”

“Flee?  You think I flee from that coward?  He’s a monster – he brutalizes my planet, he attacks my people, and - ”

She froze as the words died on her lips in an exhale.  A dainty blush colored her skin as she looked away.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not meant to be.”

Her words were so soft in volume, he was nearly certain he had missed them.

“Princess, on the contr-”

“Oh stars, look at that!”

Allura jumped back a pace as both ships in the repair bay began reacting to each other.  Golden particles seemed to hover in the air in the space between them.

“What’s… what’s happening?  Is Blue Lion reacting to your ship?”

Her eyes flickered to his in alarm, and Lotor could only nod.

“I believe so.  I believe your vessel recognizes its sister.”

He strode toward the sleeping cat and watched as the particles flickered off the Sincline ship, only to be absorbed by the wounded craft.

“…sister?”

When Lotor said nothing in response, Allura cautiously came to stand beside him.

“What does that mean?”

“I believe, though I am not certain,” he qualified, “that the ships recognize a mutual creator.”

Allura’s brow furrowed.

“I don’t understand, who would that be?”

His icy gaze fixed on her as he uttered a single word.

“You.”

Allura stilled and turned to look at him.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“You, Princess, are the link between these two ships,” he explained.  Gesturing to the weakened Blue Lion, he continued.  “This one, made by your father, tethered to your soul and bonded to your energy imprint, it knows _you_ as both its pilot and successor.  And the Sincline ship,” his attention shifted to regard his own, partially-repaired vessel. “It exists as a vehicle that can transcend realities because of – due to – Princess Allura’s innate gift for alchemy.  She made it possible – these ships are bound, in some capacity or another, to you.  And therefore… _yes_ , they recognize each other.”

"I..."

She glanced mutedly between the ships.

"The computer should be able to make most of the repairs to Blue Lion," she acknowledged.  "Let's look at your ship.  Once we get the dynotherms linked, we can check in with Father."

Allura brushed past the shocked expression of the Galran Emperor.

"...We?"

Allura glanced coyly over her shoulder in his direction, a ghost of a smile lacing her lips at his open surprise.

"If you like," she added.  "If not, I shall meet with him myself.  I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Her playful demeanor dissipated at the blatant confusion on his face.

"What is it?"  The princess took a step closer to him, concern marring her brow at the wild look in his eyes.

Lotor swallowed once and shook his head, his face returning to a controlled, calm expression.

"Nothing, Princess," he assured her.

"You look like you've never heard that before," she teased.

The emperor had no reply, but the tense line his lips drew into were all the answer Allura needed.

"...Oh.  I'm... I didn't..."

He shook his head once, dismissing her concern.

"Don't dwell upon it.  There are more important things before us."

She nodded and glanced down to the last remaining piece of his ship.  Daintily, she knelt down and grasped the edge of the wing before raising her eyes to the man studying her.

"Shall we?"

He nodded once before taking his place opposite her, and between the two of them, they began work on reattaching the last piece of the clandestine ship.


	6. Convergence

"There you are, coward!"

Emperor Lotor glanced down from where he was perched on the edge of a fractured piece of a robeast.  The arcing metal had long-cooled from the most recent battle, but had yet to be cleared from the surface of the planet. 

He was patient. 

He expected it would only be a limited amount of time before he showed up, and just as predicted, while the lions and their pilots rested, the defeated warlord circled the remnants of the battlefield.  The consistent attacks against the planet were wearing the pilots thin; it was time to draw the line.

His frosty eyes studied the loud, brutish man before him, noting how his lazon sword was already palmed before he had even stepped from his personal craft.

He tilted his head to the side curiously, not bothering to draw his own weapon or drop down from his lofty vantage point.

"I demand you come down and battle me!"

The prince paced restlessly across the ground, staring up at him.

"Why would I do that?"

"I demand the Right of Might!"

_Time to test these waters._

"Are you certain that you are not just concerned for the Princess's well being?"

An uneasy stillness settled over the clearing between them, the hot-tempered prince calming slightly as the emperor dropped the missing piece of he puzzle into the space between them.

"Who are you?"

The older of the Galra dropped from his lofty perch before languidly rising before his opponent.

"As I said, I am the Emperor of the Galran Empire-"

"You cannot be!  I am Prince-"

Lotor cut the prince off with a wave of his hand, his eyes closing briefly before opening, pinning the man with an ageless look.

The subtle dance of power flickered between them before the lazon sword disappeared into the sheath.

"I swear it - if you've harmed her..."

"I have not," came a smooth reply, a smirk twitching at his lips. "I daresay you've done more harm."

A righteous snort echoed from the feisty Galran.

"You don't understand!  If it's not me it will be Father!  I can't-"

"Believe me, young prince, I _do_ understand.  Perhaps more than you could imagine.  King Zarkon is not a man to be underestimated in any capacity, and his lethality is legendary."

"I..."

Prince Lotor watched, nearly helpless, as the emperor turned and walked away from him, weaving through the wreckage from the day's battle, his vambraces folded delicately behind his back.

" _Wait!_ "

"Keep up, if you can," the emperor called over his shoulder, his gait not slowing as he wove his way across the Altean terrain, coming to stand before the metal dome concealing the wound in the surface.

"You _dare_ turn your back on me?"

The hum of lazon signaled his advance.  The emperor's head tilted to the side as he listened to the rushed footfalls behind him. He exhaled warily, nearly bored by the display.

The motion was fluid and graceful, and the capacious prince never saw it coming.  In one breath, he was charging up behind the unarmed impostor; in the next his sword had been slashed from his hand as the man spun on a pivot, his own blade seemingly drawn from nowhere.

The hilt of the lazon saber skidded across the ground and Prince Lotor's eyes widened at the subtle skill of the taller man.  He straightened slowly, violent blue eyes fixing him to his place on the ground, rising to his full height over him.

"Are you finished with that business now?"

The violet sword still glinted in his hand; strange colors matching the flickering lights on the gauntlets he wore. 

The crown prince took a wary step back, clasping his right wrist in his left palm, still stunned by the precision of the movement: the slicing maneuver had only struck the sword with an intent to disarm, but the lethality of the man was unquestionable.

"I only intend to aid you," he added, the sword _disappearing_ in his grasp.

"Help me?  I don't _need_ your help."

"Don't you?" An aristocratic head tilt caused the single, silver strand of hair to dance as if by its own accord, quivering in the space between them. "Is that why it is I who is inside the Castle of Lions working alongside, talking to, and learning more about the Princess of Altea and not you?"

"Why you..."

"That, there, is the answer to your questions."

The galran prince blinked, his anger diffusing as he followed where the emperor was pointing.

"And what is that?"

He raised an arrogant eyebrow as the lankier of the two slid down a shallow incline to a metal dome; the same one he had caught the princess fussing over.

“This is what your princess and I have been working to correct – an error in space.  It’s a causal point that shouldn’t exist, and it’s my fault it’s here in the first place.”

The temperamental Galra had calmed marginally, finding himself more curious than wary of the familiar foreigner.  He began to ask his next question when a particular choice of words clicked, catching him by surprise.

“ ** _My_** … princess?”

Silence settled between the two points of continuity, the emperor standing over the dome quietly, the Crown Prince on the lip of the crater, watching his back intently.

“You frighten her, you know,” the elder one continued, undaunted by the question, not bothering to look behind him.

“But I only bring her affection!  I would shower her in the blood of her enemies if she would only let me!”

The emperor’s eyes remained on the metal, his lips drawing into a tight smile, a single chuff rolling through his body at the thought.

“And do you think she would appreciate such a display?”

His angry expression reformed, the feline eyes flashing to his companion.

“Of course she would!”

When the Galra sovereign remained quiet, the prince grew restless.

“And what would you do if she didn’t allow you that luxury?”

“I’d… I’d find another way!”

The tight smile widened before cobalt eyes flashed over his shoulder at the prince.

“And… have you yet?”

The prince scowled in response, not bothering to reply to the rhetorical question: they both knew the answer.

“Oh good!  I’ve found you!”

Two sets of Galran eyes flashed across the ground as the princess in pink skidded to a halt suddenly, her wide blue eyes fixed on the unwelcome guest.  The warm, open expression of scientific inquiry hardened suddenly and she began taking steps backwards.

“Be at ease, Princess.”

The emperor covered the distance between them easily, lacing his body between the timid princess at the unpredictable warlord.

“Why is _he_ still here?”  Her tundra-esque gaze flashed violently from the prince to the emperor, her face stilled and braced for a battle. “Leave this place,” she called around the man who braced as her shield.

Lotor scowled at her hiding behind the taller man.

“The Crown Prince had something he wanted to say to you, Princess,” the gentler explained smoothly, the velvet voice permeating the air.

The mutual exclamation of confusion between the two left him chuckling softly as he turned to face his silver-haired counter.

“What we were just speaking of?” He nudged gently, acutely aware of how defensively Allura curled behind him.

“Allura, my sweet!  Allow me to present you the skulls of your foes as a token of my affection!”

“You’re a monster,” she whispered breathlessly, eyes widened beyond belief.

“See? She refuses my courtship!”  The prince gestured in frustration to the trembling woman, his angry eyes fixing on the man in front of her.

The Galran emperor could only pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Beloved!  Allow me to lay the galaxy at your feet – the stars themselves will become your slaves, my queen!”

“I’m… …I’ll meet you back in the hangar?”  Allura could only shake her head in shocked disbelief at the belligerent man before turning her exhausted expression back to her more comforting companion. “I think I have some ideas on how we can harness the lazon to emulate the rift… at least temporarily to restore the circuitry. We’ll need more, eventually, but it could be a short-term solution to at least begin the initial testing.”

“You’re absolutely brilliant,” he murmured reverently, striking a blush upon her cheeks at the phrase.

“Well, I…”  She trailed off, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  “…thank you.  I’m really not, I’m only building on what my father knew, though.”

“Only someone who was his equal or better could understand his notes, Princess.  Don’t undersell yourself.  I will join you shortly and we can look at the alignment spheres.”

She nodded her head once before casting a guarded look around him toward the other silver-haired Galra staring at her, struck.

“How long will he be here?”

“Allura!”

The princess’s nose only wrinkled in response to his command.

“As long as necessary.  We are having a… discussion,” he hedged gently.

“Not about my lions, I hope!”  Her wild eyes flashed back to him, alarm thrumming beneath her skin as she realized the man she had handed her secrets to seemed to be conversing with her adversary.

“No,” Lotor affirmed softly.  “I gave you my word on that.”

She exhaled sharply before flashing him a brilliant smile.

“I apologize, sometimes my nerves get the better of me. Thank you,” she murmured, reaching out to touch his vambrace softly.

With one last, wary look over her shoulder toward the more violent of the two, Allura turned and began her jog back to the castle.

The emperor watched her retreat before turning and pinning the prince with his gaze.

“What did we learn from that?”

The warlord scowled.

“She didn’t run from you!”

A slow, easy smile stretched across the emperor’s lips.

“And, have you figured out why?”  The elder sovereign sighed at the confused look on Lotor’s face.  “No, you haven’t,” he surmised with a weary groan.

“She looks to you so softly!”  Lotor could hear as the prince stalked across the ground toward him.  He could _feel_ the twitch in the man’s palm, as if he itched to grab his saber.  He _knew_ the frustration rolling off him in waves – after all, he had been there himself millennia ago; it had just never been over a female.

 _Leave it to Allura in any continuity to tip something on its head,_ he mused softly.

“You must emulate that which you desire,” he said after a moment as his deep, sea-colored eyes glanced to the approaching man.

“And _what_ does that mean?  I demand you grant me an audience with her!”

“If you desire hostility, then give her hostility.  If you desire softness, you must yield softness,” the emperor spat out, his frustration breaking through his patience.  “She rebukes your cruelty, young prince.”

His eyes blazed of hot embers when the younger man stopped in his tracks, pinned by the lethal gaze.

“If you wish to go to war against her, then _bring a war against her._ Is this somehow not clear?”

A genuine, authentic silence fell between them before the crown prince looked back toward the metal dome contemplatively.

“I am returning to the castle, you should contemplate-”

“And what of my father then?”

The emperor stilled; the only phrase that could still chill his blood.  Memories of the tyrant haunted him to the day, despite him perishing by his very sword.

“What… what of him?”

“If I do not come here in his place, then _he_ will.  And he will not show any mercy her way.  He will destroy everything!  The _best_ I can do is buffer that for her.”

“Have you not ever considered telling her that?”

“...She wouldn’t believe me.”

“Do you wish to topple your father?”  The elder Galran turned on his heel, glancing back to the frustrated prince.  The latter did not meet his gaze, instead staring with narrowed eyes at the strange, metal dome.

“I tried,” he admitted.  “It can’t be done.”

“Oh, but it _can,_ ” Lotor murmured, watching the recognizable anxiety roll off him.

“I’ve tried poison, I’ve tried duels.   I even tried an assassination attempt!  He’s…”  He cursed.

“Ah, but, Prince Lotor, have you ever tried finding allies?”

“Allies?  You mean… _friends_?”  The amber, feline eyes shot to his for the first time and the emperor only nodded in response.

“There isn’t anyone else you can think of that might want to _also_ see King Zarkon unseated from his throne?”  His cobalt gaze flickered briefly to the Castle of Lions before looking back to the flushed prince.  “After all… that’s how _I_ was able to do it.”

“I… you… he’s…”

The prince stood sputtering behind him as Lotor turned away and once more made his path back to the castle, leaving, yet again, a confused and shattered young Galran behind him.

* * *

Wide, blue eyes greeted him as he stepped past the threshold of the castle.

Allura stood on the balls of her feet, white gloved fingers laced tautly in front of her.  Her entire body was riveted with tension, but she forced a smile to her lips.

“He worries you, does he not?”

The concern hardened behind her expression; he could see it in the deepening of her eyes and the pull of her muscles in her face.  They both knew damned well who he was talking about, and yet she forced a façade to the front.

“Whom?”

The emperor’s lips curled slightly at her marked deflection.

“All is well, Princess,” he assured her.  “Your kingdom, your secrets, and you, yourself are quite safe.”

The coiled apprehension left her body with an exhale.

“What did you two need to… discuss?”

“You,” he murmured cryptically.  “Now, I would much like to see this brilliant breakthrough you’ve found.”

He laced his fingers behind his back, leaving a surprise Allura scrambling to follow after him.

The princess’s bootsteps fell in a frantic pattern on the floor as she covered the ground between them, coming to walk at his side.

“Yes, well, as I said – I believe the lazon can act as a temporary fuel cell – we can use it to test the mechanics, at least.  It won’t be a full charge,” she trailed off, her brow drawing together in confusion.

“A brief diagnostic once the electronics are all online would be the next major hurdle for us; once the parts are all talking to each other, they can then let us know where lingering issues are,” he agreed.

Lotor glanced down to the princess as her pace stopped in the hallway.

“I simply don’t know enough to bridge the gap between our technologies…”  She bit down on her bottom lip before casting a curious, calculating look toward the Galran.

“…Princess?”

“But I know someone who can.”

His eyes widened and he dared not hope for what she implied.

She inhaled deeply, as if drawing her fortitude from the very air.  Innocently she thrust her open palm out toward him.

“…Emperor Lotor, would you like to meet my father?”

Time froze for the Galran as reality collided with fantasy.

* * *

“Please don’t forget to breathe,” an enchanting voice drifted to him from his right.  His gaze snapped over to where Allura hovered demurely – _amused_ , at his side, her hands folded deftly behind her back.  “I mean it.  You’re not breathing right now.”

Cobalt eyes blew wide as his pupils dilated in the darkness, the duo hovering just outside the door to the crypt.  The minxish look upon the princess’s lips would’ve been charming in any other situation; the young woman was clearly enjoying the opportunity to have the upper hand in a situation, an obviously new sensation to her.

The burn in his chest harkened the truth to her words and he inhaled deeply.

“Apologies,” he murmured,

“You seem…  are you nervous?”

Her head tilted to the side, a smile threatening to break across her lips.

“I am,” he admitted honestly.  Meeting King Alfor – in any version of reality – was beyond anything he had dared dream of. And yet.

A flash of knowing sparked behind the fearless princess’s eyes as she turned and keyed the last threshold open, stepping into the ancient catacombs of her palace.

Before them stretched a large crypt on a raised dais, and as Allura approached, an eerie blue glow began to emit from within the casing.

“My daughter…”

Ice slammed into Lotor’s lungs.

_There._

He was far from living, and even further from corporeal, but he was more than a mere A.I. system uploaded into a bank; he was more than just a memory, a lost dissection of details.

“Ah, son of Zarkon,” the king’s ageless eyes flashed to the emperor. “An emperor in your timeline, I hear?”

He choked.

There were no words to be found – in any language he had studied, every culture he had revered.  Despite the millennia of honing his words like daggers and scripting his literature to suit his needs, all formality and all grace flew from his mind at the sight of the late king.

_Speaking to him._

“May I present – what are you-”

Allura’s surprise died on her lips as she turned just in time to see the silver haired man – the warrior and sovereign – drop to his knees and bow his head.

Time slowed in the crypt as the war-hardened Galtean prostrated himself before the most gifted alchemist and revered explorer.  While it wasn’t the same Alfor that had borne the knowledge of the quintessence field, their souls were _linked._ Beyond the stars, beyond time, and seemingly beyond reality itself, he _lived._

“I…”

Lotor drew in a ragged gasp of air, unable to articulate the intense turmoil inside him.

Warmth flashed through him without warning and he looked sideways in a near-violent reaction to the soft touch.

Allura was kneeling next to him on the ground, small hands touching his shoulder with an expression of concern on her face.

_When had she moved?  How long had she been there?_

“Are you alright?”

_The expression was the same._

Lotor grunted, pressing his palm to his forehead as the strings of continuity collided.

_He sat on the bridge of the Castleship, the death of his father still fresh in his mind, the taste of blood still tingling on his tongue._

_“Are you alright?”_

_The legendary Altean princess – who by no rights ought to trust him hovered nearby.  Her body was aloof, silver hair gathered practically atop her head, but her expression was warm for the first time._

_“I’ll be fine.”_

“What’s wrong?”

His mind snapped back to the present and he stared into the same eyes.  Her hair may have been different and her frame unique, but the intensity of that which made her _Allura_ was undeniable.  The same, fierce warrior’s heart beat in her ribs.

“Forgive me, Princess,” he murmured, finding his voice at last.  “Your majesty,” he nodded to King Alfor before rising to his feet, Allura following in practice.  “I had a moment.”

“Crossing temporal streams can have that effect on one’s mentality,” Alfor murmured gently.  “How are you handling the travel?”

Something in the king’s gaze caught Lotor’s attention – it was the glint for knowledge.

“You never went, did you?”

“I buried the knowledge as soon as I realized what it was capable of,” he admitted, eliciting a gasp from his daughter.

“Is that why you never told me anything about this…”

“ _Quintessence_ ,” both males supplied in unison.

Allura licked her lips tartly, feeling a little flustered to be on the outside of the conversation.

“Why did you hide it? If this is as incredible as it sounds – it could have been a source of near-endless energy!”

“And suffering and war,” Alfor added.  “When I peered into the veil, when I s _aw_ what lingered in the other worlds, I dared not travel it.”

“What did you see?  You could see into the other realities without crossing into them?”

It was Lotor’s turn to ask a question, his eyes wider and wilder than Allura had ever seen before; his often-closed expression was warm and unguarded.

 _Almost childlike,_ she realized. _So full of wonder._

She laced her fingers together and returned her gaze to her father.

“Yes, and what I saw alarmed me.”

A quiet stillness settled in the crypt and neither Lotor nor Allura dared ask the question that hung so painfully before them.  Alfor continued.

“Throughout the stars, the causal plane tilts just so.  Something is different, it can be as subtle as a decision, or as blatant as a race’s evolution.  However.  As I looked deeper, I began to notice particular threads that always seemed present, no matter what else changed around them.  These strands converged around four key figures.  Their presence and their purposes may have undulated, but they were always present, and they were always the very nexus of their timeline’s fate. Their decisions, their actions and their aspirations forever decided all that came before and all that came after.”

Allura frowned, tilting her head toward Lotor only to find a similar expression of disconcert on his features.

“Your Majesty?”

“In all realities, King Zarkon and myself were at the heart of the maelstrom.  Sometimes we began as allies, but we always ended on opposite sides of a great battlefield,” he nodded once in Lotor’s direction.

“So… throughout all of the universe, there will always be a war… we cannot escape it,” she whispered, distraught.  “It’s as if the Hand of Fate wrote it before the wheel ever began turning, we would always find ourselves in this…”

Her shoulders trembled and her fists clenched.  “No. I cannot allow this,” she whispered as tears budded in the corners of her eyes.  “I will fight for peace, I will win against King Zarkon, I don’t care if we break whatever these rules are, I won’t allow this to continue!  Damn the Fates that converge on you two, I’ll break them myself.”

Her chest heaved from exertion and she calmed herself gracefully, a blush straining her cheeks.  She glanced from her father to catch the fascinated expression on Lotor’s features before he hid it carefully.

A soft chuckle emanated from the ghost behind her and she whipped her head back to regard the phantom.

“No, my daughter.  King Zarkon and I were only the _catalyst_ for the war.  Everything converges not on the fathers of the war – but on how their children _end_ it.”

All breath left her lungs and her jaw nearly hit the floor.  She felt Lotor’s presence go rigid behind her.

“H… how their children… e…end it?”

Allura’s whispered words trembled, her hand curled protectively over her lips as her wide eyes stared at her father’s projection.

“I stopped my research because I feared for you, my daughter.  You are the very heart of this universe, the decisions you make, the paths you trod will forever shape everything around you, as ripples in a pond.  Those that come after you will know your name, whispered on in the winds of time as a legend.  I did not wish you to bear the burden of that knowledge, and perhaps that fault falls to me for keeping it from you in the first place.  It is, after all, your destiny.”

The princess wheeled about to regard Lotor expectantly, and he, too, bore the same, shocked expression.

“I…   Allura and I _have_ been working very diligently to follow in her father’s research – to unearth quintessence and make the sustainable energy a free resource for all planets, Galran and otherwise.  Once we can obtain that, there will be no need for anyone to battle anymore. The quintessence field is the key to unlocking that.  I was testing some parameters when something went wrong with my ship and… I’ve ended up here,” he explained simply, lacing his fingers in front of him as he recovered his composure.  “I’m certain she is looking for me as we speak, but I did not realize...”

“You… and Allura?  The one where you come from?”

“As I said when you last asked me, Princess, she and I are close,” he replied with a sideways glance toward Allura before quickly returning his gaze forward. “No offense, your majesty.”

“None taken, young emperor. I find it fascinating that the two of you transcended the first hurdle so quickly, however.”

A strange expression settled over his face before Allura cut in again.

“Wait!  If you two are working together, are you two…”

 “We have a Galtean Alliance, yes,” he murmured, watching with amusement as her skin changed to nearly-white as she put the pieces together.

“Why did you never say anything?”

Lotor shifted his weight uncomfortably.

“You appeared to have some rather… distrustful tendencies toward him – me,” he amended.  “I desperately needed your help, Princess, and I worried I might alarm you too much if I explained it in detail.”

Allura’s brow furrowed.

“So… it’s… universal?”  Her eyes shifted to look back to her father.

“It would appear so.”

Righteous anger flared in her heart.

“You cannot possibly expect me to work with Prince Lotor. He’s-”

“Overwhelmed,” Lotor murmured, deflating her temper quickly.

“And, no, my daughter, you two are only the convergence points.  Nothing dictates how you must behave toward each other; only that what you choose to do will forever affect everything else.”

She stilled.

“Then… what’s the right thing to do?”

“And that very question, my dear, is precisely why I hid this knowledge from you.  It is a bit of a cruel twist to know every word, every action, every ambition will have some lasting, permanent effect in the universe.”

“I am sorry to have brought this curse to your doorstep, Princess,” Lotor murmured earnestly.

She glanced to him after a moment, her lips pursed thoughtfully.

“You know it, too.  You may have had more… understanding of how the universe works, but you did not know of the convergences until now.”

“It’s true.  I merely found amusement in the parallels.  Perhaps I should’ve known better.”

“Will you tell her?”

He blinked as Allura scooted closer to his side.

“What do you mean?”

“Will you tell your princess when you see her again?  What we learned here today, I mean.”

Cobalt eyes closed briefly as he exhaled.

“Perhaps, Princess,” he said softly. “I don’t wish to curse her, too, but…”  His eyes opened and flashed down to Allura, nearly stunning her with their intensity.  “Keeping secrets has never benefitted me in the past.”

A strange laughter bubbled to her lips and the demure princess clapped her hand over her mouth to catch it.

“I’ll admit, I believe I’m a bit envious of her,” she shook her head playfully.

“You could-”

Allura had already moved on, fixing her attention on her father.

“Well, that explains much,” she murmured in a nearly detached and deflated manner, the weight of destiny still sinking into her shoulders, yet another burden for the woman to carry.  “But we have questions.  Or, I do.”

“Yes, beloved daughter, what can I do?”

Allura exhaled once before launching into her analysis of the state of his ship and the prospects of getting it back into the rift.

Lotor shook his head once, finding himself impressed yet again by how similar she was to his familiar companion.  His brow furrowed, finding himself torn yet again.

They were closing in on his ultimate objective; restarting the Sincline ship and getting it into the rift. He was running out of time to spend on Altea and as excited as he was to return to the Paladins and the princess, the bitter taste of an unfinished agenda lingered on his tongue.

 _Something_ didn’t quite feel right about leaving the affairs in their current state.


	7. Restoration

Allura's head tilted at the sound of a swish, a tremble rolling down her back as the golden locks shifted at the motion.

Cautious footfalls fell behind her and the princess turned to face Lotor as the emperor stepped into the room.  The pink gown swirled around her ankles at the motion, and her slender fingers laced together in front of her.

A guarded expression graced her gentle features as she studied the man.  He froze midstride, noting the almost-wary look.

"Thank you," he said earnestly after a moment, drawing himself up straight and folding his arms behind his back formally.  "I don't know if words can properly express how... profound that meeting was for me.  My words fail me, Princess."

A blush touched at her cheeks.

"I could tell it meant a lot to you," she said after a moment.  She hesitated briefly.  "Did you... did you know King Alfor...?  He seemed... familiar to you."

"No, Princess.  Not with any familiarity, though I studied his work extensively and idolized the man for his exploration.  I would've very much liked to have known him."  He retook his careful steps, coming to stand beside the slip of a girl by the large window she had been peering out of.  "You've granted me the boon of doing just that."

His cobalt iris slid to glance her way out of the corner of his eye and a soft smile touched her lips.  With an exhale, she turned back to look out the floor-to-ceiling glass pane, standing comfortably beside him.

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Princess?"

His eyes widened and he turned his full attention on her, but Allura's blue eyes remained fixed out on the landscape that arched away from the high window.

“About you and Allura,” she explained.  “If he hadn’t said anything, I mean.”

“Do you revile me for keeping it from you?”

Allura blinked, her wariness thawing nearly instantly at the raw honesty in his tone.  Her brow furrowed as she turned to look up at him, her lips dropping open in surprise.  The exhausted, weary expression on his face almost looked as if he _expected_ her disgust and hatred.

“No,” she said after a moment, allowing the authenticity in her voice to carry.  Lotor’s wide eyes met hers firmly, the surprise evident on his face as she continued.  “Of course not.  I was only curious.  I can…”  She exhaled, hesitating. “It’s a delicate situation,” she surmised.

“Indeed,” he acknowledged.

Moments of comfortable silence flowed between them.

“How did you two meet?”

She could feel the man hesitate beside her even as a smile played out coyly against her lips.  Something about the way he shifted uncomfortably endeared his uncertainty to her.

Lotor answered her question as his eyes flashed back to the terrain in front of them, the metal dome covering the rift glinting in the distance.

“She bested me in combat.”

Wild sapphires whirled on the princess as she erupted into a fit of giggles, her shoulders trembling.

“You’re not serious!”

Merriment glittered in her eyes at the prospect and he tilted his head down slightly as his shocked expression softened, the single tendril of hair vibrating.  A soft, private smile graced his lips.

“Yes, though I didn’t know it to be her at the time.  We met face to face much later.  We danced a few times on the battlefield, but most of our interactions were by chance; I was more interested in the research with the quintessence than I was with Voltron.  Eventually, Emperor Zarkon became too much of a threat and I proposed an alliance with the Paladins.”

“Paladins?”

He blinked.

“Your pilots – of Voltron,” he clarified.

“Paladins,” she tested the word on her lips.  “I kind of like that.”

“They tentatively took me up on the offer, and through our collaboration, we brought down the old regime, ended my father’s rein and took the next steps forward to ending the violence across the galaxy. The secrets to the quintessence are the key; provide the people with unlimited energy, and they need never fight each other again.”

Allura stared in wonderment up at him.

“You really _do_ mean to bring peace.”

“You are more like her than I believe you would understand,” he replied cryptically.

“Do you think peace could be achieved here, as well?”

She folded her arms across her chest and glanced away from the man who traversed time and the dimensions between space; she feared what she might see within his gaze.

“I do.”

“It’s… I’ll have to work with… with _him_ , won’t I?”

“Ultimately, yes.  It’s, as you phrased it, a _delicate situation_ in any realm, to be certain.  …Princess, if I may be so bold,” he began, hesitating to wait for permission.

She nodded once in his direction, her brow creasing once more.

“I can guarantee you this much – he wishes to unseat his father nearly as much as you would like to see the king deposed.”

“You… really believe that?”

She watched him as he studied her, his eyes locked on the pink princess as he bowed his head once reverently, never breaking the eye contact.   He hummed his agreement as a blush colored her cheeks.

“Well, I can assure you that Prince Lotor is certainly _not_ more interested in the… quintessence,” she huffed, refolding her arms across her chest as she glared stoically across the plains at the dome.

“Ah, perhaps not.  But, is it possible his focus is on the one entity that can actually aid him in bringing in a new order of the Galran Empire?”

Allura released a displeased noise, shifting slightly to face Lotor as he stepped closer.

“He cannot do this without you,” he explained flatly.

When Allura hesitated at the words, he continued, a playful grin breaking across his face.

“He just may not have realized that, yet.”

Her worried expression cracked into a weak smile as she only exhaled.

“Perhaps,” she conceded.  “He’s just never seemed too… terribly war-bent.  I’m certain he’s gone after other planets, but he doesn’t seem to want to fight against his father, and moreover he has done fairly little to try and harm my planet, just cause inconveniences… Mostly for me.”

“I would wager he feels a secret protectiveness over the planet – he does what he can to deflect his father’s advances.  Most likely drawn from the Altean half of his herit-”

He stopped mid-sentence as wide eyes swiveled down to the princess as she was caught up in a frantic coughing fit, her hands clutching at her chest as she struggled to breathe.

“ _His… his **Altean** half!?_ ” She all but wheezed.

“I gather you were not yet aware of that,” he murmured softly.

As Allura stared openly at the man, words failed her.

As several moments rolled by, the regal princess regained her composure.  She pressed her lips closed and slowly turned her eyes back to the landscape, her lashes still wide with shock. 

A smile quirked at the corner of his lips, but he remained relatively impassive as he observed her rigid form as she struggled to process the information.

“Are… are you…”

“I am,” he answered her fumbled question gently.

“…Ah.”  She fidgeted beside him and he could practically hear the hum of the motors turning in her mind.  “So, that means King Zarkon… must have...”

“Yes,” he said quickly, cutting off the question before his mind began thinking about things he didn’t wish to drudge up.  “But, perhaps your questions are better suited for him, not me.  Remember – the convergence is upon us, not necessarily those within our nearest networks.”

Allura’s wide eyes blinked once in surprise before she nodded in understanding.

“It’s a lot to take in,” she admitted as she turned away from the glass pane and dropped deftly into an arm chair near a small table in the drafting room.

She raised her eyes as the silent man dropped into a chair across from her, his gaze still trained on the outside world before swiveling to meet her.

Allura watched, transfixed, as the hair tendril danced through the air.  She blinked, quickly returning her gaze to him.

“It is.  It will take time, and it will take patience,” he agreed.  “But someone has to be the first one to initiate such contact - isn’t your goal diplomacy in the end, Princess?”

Allura’s lips pressed together as Lotor’s lips curled up almost wickedly at her pause.  If there had been any cause for question that the man shared a soul link with the Galra across the battlefield, that single look shattered all doubt.

“Yes, well.”  She swallowed tightly, reclining in the seat while brushing out the nonexistent folds of her gown, fighting to control the blush threatening to bloom across her cheeks. “We can begin the first round of testing,” she murmured, changing the subject.

Allura missed the flash of light behind his gaze as she fidgeted with the fabric.

“Princess…”

“When would you like to begin?  The ship is finished.  It’s just a matter of the next… phase.”  Her golden brow furrowed as her eyes returned to the window.  While the ominous dome wasn't visible from their seated vantage point, Allura didn’t need to see it to worry for it.  “I’m afraid my understanding ends here, though - are you certain that it is so unwise to leave it open for study?”

“Princess, the last planet that did so ended up being destroyed by it.  I would not wish to see that befall Altea.”

Allura’s eyes widened as she looked back to him.

“No, me neither, of course.  Perhaps there will be another - safer - way to search for understanding in the future.”

He hummed in agreement before rising to his feet with an exhale.

Vivid, sky-blue eyes tracked his movement intently.

“I’m going to prepare the hangar for the first stage of testing,” he murmured, taking his leave of the room.  Allura watched as the door closed behind him.

There was little the princess could do to assist him until the preparations were finished; inconveniently leaving her alone with her thoughts, and the most recent conversation rattling around in her head.

* * *

“Don’t forget the dynotherms,” Allura murmured as Lotor finished the last of the checks.

The sleek ship rested on the embankment of the crater near the rift, the dome moved away.  The access door to the cockpit remained open so they could speak as Allura stood on the ground outside.

Her eyes skimmed over the interior; the details she had long-committed to memory in her hours working beside him on the repairs.  As it was finished, he had gently requested that she stay on the ground.

A weak _ache_ throbbed in her chest at the sight of the two command panels. _Equals._

_Allura sits at that one._

She didn’t even need to ask, she simply _knew._

It wasn’t her place to sit beside him, to assist – he had claimed it might be too dangerous; as the quintessence was a new exposure to her, going into the heart of a full test might have disastrous consequences.

While Allura appreciated the concern for her safety, she was nearly certain the other, unspoken half was that no one else was meant to take that seat but _her,_ and the princess could find no faulty logic in the sentiment.  She respected it.

_Prince Lotor wouldn’t treat you so delicately._

Her eyes popped wide when her mind jumped to the dangerous warlord in her own chronicle, a fierce blush blooming over her skin as the utter verity of the thought settled in.

_He wouldn’t._

Prince Lotor had made it quite clear in their prior skirmishes that he knew her limits and was unafraid to test them.  Between ploys and tactics to ground her ship and a precisely-aimed shot from a robeast, it was obvious she wasn’t the delicate flower her team idolized her as in his eyes, but he always seemed to know precisely when to pull back.

Allura struggled to tame the bubbling sensation inside her at a thought – _why the stars is **that** appealing?_

Had she never considered that aspect before?

“Megathrusters are go.”

The words falling from Lotor’s lips snapped her mind back to the present and she stared openly at him as he uttered the familiar phrase.

Allura stepped back from the ship as a strange, luminescent glow flourished, seeming to come from the small tear in the Altean earth.

Bubbles – like steam from a boiling pot, filtered up from the crevice and matched the ship in hue.

“It’s working,” she whispered.  The lazon crystals she had incorporated into the framework of the power cells appeared to have been enough to start the whole system.  Once active, the ship was _syphoning_ from the anomaly in the earth, as if recharging itself.

_Just like the lions do on their power bases…_

Her lips dropped open in wonderment, staring at the shimmering, glittering orbs of light floating around the vessel.  As the luminescence expanded, she took another step back, painfully aware of his warning.

Moments rolled by, Lotor occasionally murmured a number, as if watching charts or data readouts.

Allura rocked on her toes, curious what he was looking at, but unable to see from her safe vantage point.

With the same meticulous, building startup, the ship powered down and the link between the two severed.

As he finished shutting down the machine fully, he dropped from the cockpit and glanced to the princess.

“That was beautiful,” she murmured.  “That was it, wasn’t it?  The quintessence?  That’s what the pure form of it looks like.”

He nodded sagely.

“It is.  It’s what your planet draws from the universe itself – and what your father was able to harness in his research.”

“So… you need that,” she gestured to the ground.  “To move your ship back into the space between reality – but how will you find where you’re headed from there?  After all, I don’t believe you intended to end up here.”

A strange look clouded over his expression.

“I am… anticipating someone will be looking for me with the proper coordinates,” he hedged, the first thread of uncertainty lacing his voice.

Allura’s confused expression warmed and she exhaled once, a smile on her lips. She stepped forward and touched the armored gauntlet on his right hand delicately.

“I’m certain that she is,” she murmured comfortingly. “I can’t imagine she’d be anywhere else.”

He bowed his head and pressed his free hand over hers, the massive palm dwarfing hers.

“Thank you,” he replied.

Allura flashed him an earnest, genuine smile as she studied his gaze openly.  It was the first time she had brought herself to look directly into his eyes.  No trepidation, wariness or contingency plans flooded her mind; she saw raw honestly and integrity.

So much of what was before her blended against what she had already known – it was nearly impossible not to believe his words on the subject of Prince Lotor.  As she realized what road her mind was moving down dangerously, she brightened her smile and gave his hand a gentle squeeze before drawing her limbs to her side.

As she withdrew her palm from between his, he lingered.  Long digits curled around her skin carefully, lightly.

Allura’s eyes snapped to the feathery hold, her gaze widening at the elongated claws that encircled her softly.

“Please, believe me, Princess,” he urged – was that a tone of desperation in his voice?

“I… I will do what I can,” she confirmed, stepping back.  “Thank you for… for sharing your information on the matter, I don’t know that I would’ve ever learned of most of it otherwise.”

Her heart hammered in her chest at the promise she made without thinking twice.

“Thank you,” he repeated.

The emperor deftly released her trapped hand, allowing it to fall back to her side as the exhale of genuine gratitude left his lungs.

“That is more than I ever dared hope for,” he added, turning to face his grounded vessel.

Allura allowed the blush to cover her cheeks briefly, reprieved from his gaze.

“What’s… what’s the next step? It seemed like it went well…”

His palm splayed wide against the hull of the ship.

“It did.   …It is ready to travel. There is just one thing left we must do.”

The princess blinked.

“There is?  What… what is that?”

Lotor hesitated before spinning around to pin her with his gaze.

“We must find a way for you to close the rift safely behind me.”

A coldness thrummed in her chest.

“Would… that mean you couldn’t come back?”

“Not likely – certainly not easily,” he admitted.    “I would have to miscalculate a trajectory again, I’m afraid.”  He stared at the fallen expression on her face as he leaned over slightly to her level.   “We were never meant to meet, Princess.  We must restore the order and balance to the greater universe.  I am forever in your debt for your help and hospitality, but when I leave, it is safest for you if we close the rift behind me.”

“I… …yes, yes I suppose that makes sense,” she hid her frown with a weak smile.  “We should do what is best.”

“For now, we should rest.  Night will fall soon, and we have had a very long day.  Do you mind?”

He gestured to the dome and Allura blinked before nodding, jogging to where her Blue Lion was parked nearby.

After starting it up, she used the mechanical creature to return the heavy dome over the rift.

“Do you want a ride?”

Allura’s voice echoed over the com as the ship looked down to where he stood.

The emperor shook his head once and waved her on.

“Head on back, I’ll finish powering down here and be right behind you.”

She hummed in assent, taking the sky in the beast and heading back to her fortress, leaving Lotor to finish closing the panels.

He froze suddenly as his ear twitched, a lazy smile splitting his lips.

“I was worried I wouldn’t get to say farewell,” he murmured before turning to face a very frustrated Crown Prince.  “And just how long have you been hovering?”  Wicked cobalt flashed over the smaller man as the Galran prince huffed.

A low, rumbling, irritated growl vibrated from the man as he folded his gloved arms over his chest, staring across at the strange alien before him.

“What’s this about a rift?”

“Nothing you nor your father need to concern yourself about,” the emperor snapped back gently, turning his attention back to his own vessel to finish closing it.

“You’re going to travel in this… this rift?”

The prince took a step toward the man, only to freeze as the latter spun on heel and leveled him with a dangerous gaze.

“As I said – it is nothing for you to concern yourself with.  But… if you can convince the princess that you are worthy of those secrets… perhaps she’ll share them with you,” he replied, his voice softening toward the end of the explanation.

“Why would _she_ do something like that for me?”  The disbelief on the younger warlord’s face was unmistakable – a mixture of frustration, want and dismay.

“You just need to give her a reason to.  Give her something to _hope_ for, Crown Prince, not to fear or fight against.  You might be surprised how far that goes.”

“ _Hope?_   Surely you don’t expect me-”

“I don’t expect anything from you, to be honest,” the elder quipped.  “And neither does she.  It might be a breath of relief for her to have a change of pace, however.  Do you not believe she is worthy of feeling safe and secure?”

“Of course!  She is worthy of it all!  I’d build temples in her honor and place the stars at her feet, if only she would have it!”

Lotor hesitated, mulling over the righteous words of the prince.

“Perhaps. But… what if that is not her desire?”

When only a growl met his response, he sighed in exasperation.

“Consider your common ground.  I would imagine talking of Altea would catch her interest.  But, that is the last bit of advice I can offer you, I am afraid.”

After insuring the ship was secure and the rift covered properly by the dome, the older of the two turned and silently made his way back to the castle, his palms folding regally behind his back as he walked.

With each stride, he waited to hear the curse, the cry of fury, or the question of indignation, yet only silence met his ears.  Curiously, the emperor turned and peeked over his shoulder.

The prince stood, glaring at the ground with a near-crestfallen expression on his face.  No anger laced his features, nor righteous pride.  Grim determination edged with frustration and a hint of confusion resonated.  _It was sinking in._

A fanged smile curled at his lips as he continued back to the castle.

_Good.  About time._


	8. Realignment

"Is that everything?"

Allura's eyes skimmed worriedly over the Galran as he gave her a curious nod in response.

"It isn't as though I came with much," he chided her gently as he loaded the last pieces onto the comet ship.

"No, I mean - do you need any more?  I'm... I'm worried about where you're headed," she corrected.

Wordlessly, she presented a bundle of fabric she had been cradling in her arms on their walk down to the rift were his ship rested from the prior day's testing.  Nestled inside the protective softness lay a shard of crystal, nearly the size of her forearm.

"I can assure you, I don't believe I'll need any more of your lazon supply.  You've been unfathomably generous, Princess."

She frowned, her fingers tightening around the parcel nervously.

"Will you take it anyway?  What if this rift doesn't recharge your fuel cells?"

He studied her quietly for a moment before tilting his head to the side.

"Would it ease your worry if I did?"  When she only nodded vigorously in response, he stretched out his palms toward her and Allura dutifully placed the gift in his grasp.

"Thank you," she murmured as he turned to store the solid energy supply in a hatch bin.

"It is I who should be thanking you," he teased gently, causing a blush to color her cheeks.

"How long is the trip?  Will you need food?"

An earthy chuckle rolled from the emperor.

"No, if all goes well, it will be just a matter of moments."

“And… if it doesn’t go well?”

Her brow creased with deepening anxiety.

“It will,” he assured her.  “I’m certain of it.”

Allura exhaled in an attempt to calm her nerves.  Pressing her eyes closed, she counted down in her mind before plastering on a diplomatic smile.  She was used to being strong and unruffled for her people and her planet.

“Of course,” she nodded.  “What happens now?  How will you get back through?”

“This is where I must ask your assistance and beg your apology one last time, Princess.”

Allura blinked in surprise.

“Name it.”

Instead of speaking, he extended a small capsule toward her.  Allura reached for the delicate piece of metal and hesitated briefly.

“Your...”

“Apologies, it’s a… defense mechanism,” he murmured, focusing on retracting the claws that had appeared on his fingertips.

“Are you nervous?”

A weak smile laced her lips as she took the small, metal piece from his softened hands.

“I am… not entirely comfortable with situations in which the outcome is unpredictable,” he admitted quietly.  “But, we must always press forward.  We cannot stall in our pace because of the unknown.  After all, the unknown will never become known without a little courage.”

“So true…”

Allura peeled her gaze from the emperor to look at the capsule in her palm.

“Be cautious with that,” he began.  “This is what you will use to seal the rift once I have passed through.”

“How does it work?”

He turned away from the pink princess and pressed his palm to the side of his ship, a frown marring his features.

“I apologize, but I must injure your planet once more, I’m afraid.”

“If it’s necessary… then it’s alright, of course.  How will this work?”

Allura turned away from him, gliding across the landscape to regard the fountain of light bubbling up from the surface of her planet.

“I’ll energize the ship.  Once it’s powered on, and it’s prepared for rift travel, I’ll… I must blast the opening in your planet wider. Where there’s a small crevice, there will need to be an opening large enough for the ship to pass through.”

Allura’s eyes widened at the prospect, but she kept her silence, her back still to the emperor as he spoke.

“Once I am through, then it is all up to you, Princess.  Drop the capsule through – it’s a compressed explosive.”

Allura twitched, her eyes popping wide as she looked down to the innocent-looking implement in her palm.

“It’s… what?”

Her whispered words trembled at the lethal force in her palm.

“Don’t worry,” he replied quickly, coming to stand behind her.

Two, large palms closed around the trembling hand with the device.

“It cannot detonate without a very specific energy signature.”

A blush bloomed across the bridge of her nose and cheeks as she turned her attention up at him.

“How do I do it?”

“Blue Lion.  Use the power that runs through the very core of your ship.  Voltron’s blazing sword could do it as well.  It can only be detonated with a surge of refined quintessence.”

“And… what will happen to you once I do that?”

“Nothing, I’ll be safely inside the rift, attempting to navigate myself back to where I came from.”

Allura grew still, glancing down to her hand caged between his.

“And what if you cannot?  What… you can’t stay there.”

“I am certain Allura is looking for me.  If not in the rift herself, then on her side of it, scanning and searching.  I’ll be fine.”

A warm squeeze to her hands marked his release and he stepped back.

“The main thing is you need to make sure you close the rift on your side.  It cannot stay open – it could collapse your planet.”

“You seem so certain of that – and yet it could herald such scientific advancements!”

She gasped audibly when his palms closed around her shoulders and he lowered his face to her level.

“I have seen planets be destroyed by this, Princess.  I do not wish Altea to be one. ...Not again.”

A chill flooded Allura’s spine as the wind left her lungs.

“…again,” she whispered.

“Again,” he confirmed.  “Promise you’ll close the rift behind me?  Please, let _one_ Altea thrive.  Let one… just one… Just let one survive…”

She reached up and touched his shoulder comfortingly as his voice cracked.

“I will.  I will protect this place, it is sacred to me.  I swear it,” she affirmed when he trailed off.

He stared at her a moment longer, as if trying to divine some legendary truth from her eyes.  Allura could only offer him a weak smile in return.

His right palm released her shoulder and he reached into a compartment in his armor, withdrawing a data disk.  He held it between them quietly.

Allura’s eyes darted from his to the disk and back again, waiting patiently.

“This,” he whispered, never breaking the connection between them as his left palm still curled about her shoulder.  “Contains the plans to build a rift gate.”

Allura’s eyes popped wide as her jaw dropped.

“It is possible to utilize this technology for the greater good of the galaxy.  To tap the rift for energy, transportation. …You could even build a Teludav.”

“A tele-what?”

His lips curled up softly in response.

“It’s all here, Princess.  Everything you need to unravel the rift – to build your new technology safely – away from Altea.  To still research it.  But.”

Her eyes snapped back to his as her fingertips froze mid-reach.

“You must swear on all your hold dear to your heart that you will not open this.”

“You are offering knowledge and a key to peace in my galaxy and asking me not to-”

“-until,” he interrupted her gently.  “Until Zarkon is dealt with.  Once your planet is no longer at war, you can safely begin your scientific expansion.  But… think just for a moment Princess,” he urged as her fingers closed around the small blueprint.  “Imagine what your galaxy would look like if you began your scientific research and Zarkon were to get hold of it.  The ability to tap the field for unlimited energy.  To travel through reality, across galaxies in a heartbeat.  He must not ever have it.”

“And… what of Prince Lotor?”

She raised her eyes from the data drive to look to him.  Worry crinkled at the corner of his eyes but his smile remained.

“I leave that to you,” he said, releasing her entirely, stepping back, the glimmer of knowledge in one hand, the compressed explosion in her other.  “But know this.  I could not have done anything that I’ve succeeded in, had I never met Allura.  _We_ could not have done it, had we not had each other.”

Heat crept across her cheeks and down her spine at the intensity of his words, even as he turned away to face his ship once more.

“Wait,” she said automatically.  Lotor stilled, glancing her way.  “I have something for you, too.”

His cobalt eyes popped wide in surprise as she extended a small satchel toward him.  He stared at the bag between her fingertips curiously and Allura felt her cheeks color.

“I… they’re Juniberry seeds.  You can plant them, if you like.”

Allura felt her throat tightened when he said nothing, instead staring wide-eyed at the tiny, insignificant bag between them.

“I mean, it’s… it’s something small, it’s not nearly as valuable as the literal plans for intergalactic peace,” she murmured self-consciously. “But I remember how you looked to the flowers when you first awakened.  I doubt a mature bloom would handle the travel, but I thought maybe the seeds might-”

“Thank you.”

Her rambling was cut short as he spoke, finding his voice once more, the small satchel dropping into an outstretched palm.

“This… is more valuable than I think you may realize,” he murmured reverently, closing his other hand over it as if it were a sacred relic.  He brought the offering to his heart and cast her an open smile.

With a careful hoist, he stepped up and into the cockpit.  Lotor hesitated, turning to glance behind him one last time to the slender Altean woman, the bag clutched carefully in his grasp.

“I must go,” he said softly, answering the unspoken words on her lips.

Allura nodded, backing away from the ship.

He paused by the hatch, holding her gaze for an extra moment.

“Thank you.  For everything,” he said, the honesty reverberating through his voice sincerely.

Allura felt tears well in the corners of her eyes; this strange man she had known barely a breath’s length of time had settled firmly in her mind and heart in a way no other had. He was a stranger; a foreigner.  Someone who had crossed the sea between realities and bridged the gap between continuities.  He could not stay – that had never been an option.  The threads of the universe frayed further every moment that he lingered.

He brought with him information, history, both past and future to her, forbidden knowledge, yet unknown and undiscovered in her timeline. And, in his wake he left something far more valuable and irreplaceable. 

He left her _hope_.

“Thank _you_ ,” she returned.

He pressed his palm over his chest in some form of a salute of honor, and in turn Allura gathered the billows of her gown and dipped into a curtsy of deep respect.

_To Lotor, of all people,_ she mused thoughtfully.

The panel slid shut and she backed away.

A nervous glance flickered between the ship and the rift before she turned and jogged up the incline of the hill, uncertain of how far she needed to be.

The thrusters of the ship powered on and a wind whipped up across the terrain, ruffling the folds of her dress and causing her to tuck her hair behind her ears to keep it from her face.

“Dynotherms connected,” she whispered, watching the launch sequence.

Between her own ships and their configurations and seeing his test earlier, she knew exactly what part of the sequence he was in.  Perhaps it was the quintessence itself that spoke to her.

“Infracells are up.”

The tears rolled down her cheeks and her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest as her heart threatened to split into two.

A golden glow enveloped the ship, the single anomaly in the surface of her planet seemed to brighten as the vessel siphoned energy off it.

Her heart stuttered as the light rose in intensity, she waited on baited breath for the final phase.

More of the golden bubbles were pulled toward the craft as the winds whipped up around her with more intensity.

_This is it._

Azure eyes widened to the size of saucers when the ship began to lift off the ground.

“You’re not ready,” she murmured, worriedly.

Golden energy augmented, the rift nearby nearly glowing white as the quintessence funneled from the source into the vessel.

“Megathrusters… where are your megathrusters…”

She backed away further, watching wide-eyed as the ship repositioned itself,  a single canon opening toward the glowing crevice.

Allura stood far enough away that she could watch with muted concern when the phaser opened, striking the earth, allowing the glowing portal to widen.  Four more blasts turned what had been a crack into an authentic gateway.

“ _Megathrusters!_ ”

Allura screamed into the air, her chest constricting as his ship positioned itself to travel, without all the safety mechanics in place.

A silver flash rolled over the surface of the vessel and Allura sighed in relief.

“Megathrusters are go.  …Godspeed, Lotor,” she whispered to herself.

She bowed her head over her clasped hands in a last prayer.

In a single moment; the time between one breath and the next, the space between two heartbeats, he was gone, as if he had never been.

The ship had accrued the glow, the rift had widened, and in nearly no time at all, had vanished entirely.

_He’s gone._

She shuffled toward the edge of the gaping chasm in her planet as glowing energy seeped out into the world around her.

“I promised I would close this behind you.  I will honor that,” she murmured, looking down to her palms.  As her fingers uncurled, in one, the tiny capsule rested; in the other the data disk with all the information she could ever hope to have learned herself.

“Perhaps… perhaps we shall meet again,” she prayed, tossing the slender detonation device into the gateway before her.

To Allura’s surprise, it hovered on the energy, and understanding filled her.

Wheeling in place, she fled back toward where her lion was sitting, waiting.

The princess climbed into her own cockpit, gown and all, and flipped on the startup sequence.  As it powered up, she reflected on all that she had learned.

“Thank you.”

A renewed sense of determination filled her as she glanced down to the small data disk resting in her lap.

Blue Lion roared to life and tentatively approached the massive crater in her landscape.

“I could follow him.  I could pass into the rift.  I could meet _her_.”

Visions of an alternate reality, where their planets weren’t at war filled her mind. 

Blue Lion stepped closer to the glowing gateway.

_I could see what could be._

Quintessence bubbles touched the claws of Blue Lion’s paw.

“I could leave this place behind,” she murmured thoughtfully.

_We were not ever meant to meet._

She blinked.

The Galran Emperor’s words floated back to her.

_Chasing him could unravel time itself,_ she realized sadly.

With a heart burdened with lead, she flipped on the canon sequence, charging up the crystal that powered her ship.

_I’ll miss you._

Energy built in the lazon core, and Allura watched the numbers augment slowly.

_I’ve never known anyone like you._

Images of Crown Prince Lotor flashed to her mind as soon as the thought ended, and her brow furrowed.

A _ding_ sounded, indicating a full charge.

Blue Lion hovered off the ground, canon pointed directly at the small charge she had left hovering in the quintessence gateway.

_This is it.   Right now.   I can end this all.  Severe the tie, break the bond._

Yet, she hesitated.

_You promised you would close it behind me!_

Allura cried out as his voice echoed in her mind.

“Lotor? Are you there?  Can you hear me?”

Her fingers tapped over the controls recklessly, but no other sound came across her radar.

“Did I imagine you?”

_Close it now!_

With little other preamble, Allura slammed her hand down on the trigger.

She screamed aloud as the blast from her lion slammed into the rift, triggering the device floating in place. The most spectacular explosion followed, collapsing the golden energy in upon itself.

* * *

Allura sat upon the head of her dormant lion.

Another robeast had landed on Arus and been properly dispatched.

The other pilots had returned to the castle to celebrate, but Allura had one last thing to do. 

She had a promise to keep.

She waited.

_Would he come?_

The first of many relieved exhales left her lips when the bat-like cruiser touched down.

“My sweet, my beloved, you’re-”

“Here to talk,” she interrupted, staring the warlord down with a cold cruelty that stopped him in his tracks. “…Are you here to listen?”

She ran her fingers over the data disk in her lap, left by the traveling emperor.

“Allura.”

She dropped down from the head of Blue Lion, landing on her feet before him.

“Prince Lotor.”

“Does this mean you will become my wife?”

Allura scowled.

“No.”

She hesitated at the genuine look of disappointment on his face.

“if… if you’ll let me, Lotor,” she amended gently.  “…I’d like to become your friend.”

His golden eyes lit wider and brighter than she had ever seen before.

“My… _what_?”

“Friend,” she affirmed.  “I think there is much we could learn from each other, if we come to a place where we can trust each other.  …What do you think?”

A white gloved hand stretched out toward him, breaching the gap between the two warring royals.

Lotor stared, before his eyes rose from the peace offering to her face.

“This could mean the end of the Empire as the Drule know it,” he murmured darkly.

“But not to your reign,” she added softly, flipping the data disk between her fingertips thoughtfully. “Rules are made to be broken.  Will you break them with me, Prince Lotor?”

She barely finished her sentence before his palm clasped hers.

“Without question.”

* * *

“You found me.”

“Of course I did.”

Lotor’s ship had found purchase once more on the castleship and Allura’s arms snaked around his chest as she drew him closer.

“Did you think I would ever stop looking?”

“No,” he murmured, grateful. “But, I have something for you.”

“A gift?  You were lost to the rift for nearly a movement, and you somehow found something?”

Allura’s crafted white brow knitted together in confusion as she stepped back from him.  She blinked as he dangled a satchel between them.

Wordlessly, she took it from him, casting him a curious look.  She opened the container, spilling seeds into her open palm.

“Lotor, these look like…”

“Juniberry seeds.”

Her lovely eyes popped wide and she nearly dropped them.

“… _how_?”  She fixed her panicked gaze on him.

“I found a reality where Altea was not gone.”

“Not… gone,” she breathed. “Was there…”

“Yes,” he cut her off gently.  “They have… some issues to resolve still.  But, I think… they’ll do just fine.”

Allura’s arms wrapped around him tightly.

“I was so afraid I’d never see you again when you vanished.”

He curled his arms around her, drawing her in closer.

“It’s alright, I’ve returned now.”  His brow creased.  “…I met King Alfor.”

He could feel the way Allura froze against him.

“Father?”

He smiled down at her.

“In one reality, at least. …We should talk.  …There is something I should share with you.”

“Share, about what?”

“About our fates.”

Allura blinked and nodded once, threading her fingers through his.  No matter what lay before them – or behind them – they could face it all.

“I can’t say I understand but… I trust you.  Without question.”

"Without question."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you! Feedback is always welcome!


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